


I Forgot That You Existed

by ddamaged



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Married Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:13:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 24
Words: 57,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25456003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddamaged/pseuds/ddamaged
Summary: Waverly and Nicole are happily married, but a year into their marriage, a tragic event forces one of the women to make a decision that causes the two of them to get separated from each other. Can Waverly and Nicole find their way back to each other? Or will everything they worked so hard to build come crumbling down around them?
Relationships: Waverly Earp & Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught
Comments: 155
Kudos: 580





	1. Chapter 1

"I told you all that we would be having a music test today, so let's cut the groaning, yeah?" The young brunette chuckles to herself.

"Yes, Mrs. Earp-Haught." A few of the students mutter. The teacher would be lying if she said hearing her hyphenated last name didn't make her heart jump out of her chest every time it graced her ears. Three years of dating, and one year of marriage later, and anything related to the brown-eyed girl still makes her heart race.

Waverly sits down at her desk after handing out the tests to her students and monitors the 7th graders sitting in front of her. A faint buzzing sound coming from her desk drawer catches her attention, but she doesn't make a move to reach for her phone because she knows that some of her students would take that as their cue to lean over and get answers from the person next to them. She would do the same thing in middle school as soon as her teacher looked away, but she is not having it in her own classroom.

The young teacher spends the next 30 minutes watching her students struggle and listening to them sigh. Her lips form a slight smirk at the dramatic students before her. They all act as if she has not been telling them they were having a test on this exact day for the last couple of weeks. In attempt to diminish her boredom, the brunette finds herself actually counting the number of sighs that she hears. There is an average of about five a minute. She is about to count the next minute, but the abrupt opening of her classroom door breaks her from her thoughts and almost makes her fall out of her chair. Before she can get a word out to the culprit who is interrupting her class, the culprit who clearly overlooked the "do not disturb" sign on her door, she sees her favorite pair of brown eyes staring back at her.

Her heart flutters for a second, but then she notices that something is off. She can tell the minute their eyes lock that something is wrong. Nicole quietly walks over to her wife and starts to gather up her belongings. Waverly opens her mouth to object. "Nicole, what are you doing?" She whispers as she watches the redhead stuff her purse and her cell phone into the music note printed bag that she retrieved from her shoulder. One that obviously belongs to Waverly. She focuses her attention back on her students and they are all looking at her and Nicole with furrowed eyebrows. The brunette knows that her own expression mirrors those of her students, but she doesn't know what to tell them. She is just as confused as they are.

"Come with me." Nicole finally speaks up, her voice laced with something that raises the hairs on Waverly's arms. Fear. The brown-eyed girl quickly slings the bag back over her shoulder and grabs her wife by the arm. A little too tightly for Waverly’s liking, but she is still too shocked and confused to speak up. Before Waverly can protest, she is already standing in the empty hallway that smells like puberty and gym bags. Nicole finally lets go of her arm and continues to walk to the end of the hallway toward the door, but Waverly doesn't take a step forward. Her eyes continuously dart between her wife and the door to her classroom. As soon as the brown-eyed girl realizes her wife isn't following her, she spins around and crosses her arms. "Waverly, c'mon." Nicole runs her fingers through her hair and sighs.

"Babe, I'm teaching. I'll get fired if I just leave." Waverly whispers as she places her hand back on the doorknob. She watches the redhead's eyes soften as she makes her way back over to her.

"I know, baby, but it's an emergency, okay? We have to go. I'll explain everything in the car." Nicole states calmly as she gently tucks a strand of brown hair behind Waverly’s ear.

"No explain now, Nicole. This is my job we are talking about." The teacher crosses her arms hastily. Nicole just huffs and in one swift motion she slings her wife over her shoulder and starts to make her way to the exit at the end of the hallway.

"Nicole! Put me down!" The brunette bangs her fists into her wife's back, but stops after Nicole makes no move to put her back on her own two feet. When the redhead finally reaches the passenger side of her black BMW, she puts her wife down and opens the door, effectively trapping the still frazzled brunette between herself and the car door. Nicole raises an eyebrow and patiently waits for her stubborn wife to get in the car. Nicole usually finds the hazel-eyed girl's stubbornness amusing, but today she is too worried to even be the slightest bit amused.

"Get in." Nicole states sternly. Waverly opens her mouth to protest, but Nicole beats her to it. "Now, Waverly." Nicole isn't usually this stern with her wife, but her protective nature is taking over. The teacher searches her wife's eyes for some clue as to what is going on. "Fucking hell Waverly get in the fucking car right now." Nicole grits her teeth and Waverly finally surrenders after Nicole starts cursing at her, which she despises. The young teacher knows its serious because Nicole rarely ever curses at her. Nicole knows Waverly hates it. It's so rare that Waverly can only pinpoint one other time that she remembers Nicole doing it.

Senior year of college.

The two had gotten into a heated argument and Waverly stormed out of Nicole’s apartment in search of the nearest bar. She managed to get drunk off her ass and Nicole found her and tried to get her to leave the bar. Waverly argued and yelled while Nicole just listened and tried to keep the brunette from falling off the bar stool. The two went back and forth for a solid half hour, with an occasional butt in from the bartender, which angered Nicole to no end. It went on and on, Waverly trying to convince the bartender to pour her another drink and Nicole telling him she would break his fingers if he did. It only ended when Nicole cursed at Waverly, which managed to sober the girl up very quickly.

The young brunette runs her fingers through her hair and lets out an exasperated sigh before sliding into the BMW. Nicole lets out a breath she didn't even know she was holding and the young teacher does the same because it's official...

She's so fired.

Nicole slides in the driver's seat and cranks up the car. She backs out of the parking spot quickly and drives away from the school. When they make it on the road, Nicole reaches over and interlaces her hand with her wife's. She brings their hands up to her lips and places a tender kiss on the back of the hand that fits perfectly in hers. Waverly smiles, momentarily forgetting about the predicament she is in. "What's going on, Nic?" She finally speaks up.

Nicole tenses and sets their intertwined hands in her own lap. "You remember that bombing in Rome that happened yesterday?” Waverly nods her head.

"Well there's been a terrorist attack in Florence and everyone is suspecting that Venice will be next. About 100 were killed today and I don't know if they will come here, but after what happened in Florence, I'm not taking any chances." Nicole feels Waverly tighten her grip on her hand and she absentmindedly rubs her thumb over the back of the now clammy hand that is tightly gripping hers. "I've been texting and calling for the past hour trying to get in touch with you, but I couldn't. Then I remembered you were giving a test and wouldn't answer, so I left work and drove to get you."

Waverly starts to ask where they are headed, but then Nicole takes the exit that leads to the airport. "Babe, I doubt we can get a seat on an airplane, let alone two. You know everyone will be panicking and trying to buy tickets." Waverly studies her wife's features and watches Nicole’s mouth tug upwards into one of her signature smirks.

"You forget I have connections. Don't underestimate me, Earp." Nicole takes her eyes off the road for a second and locks them with the hazel ones beside her. She offers Waverly a wink before turning her attention back to the road before them. Waverly’s heart flutters, just like it always does when it's around Nicole.

"That's Earp-Haught to you." The teacher teases back, trying to lighten the mood in attempt to stop her hands from shaking.

When they finally pull up to the airport, Nicole jumps out as soon as she brings the car to a stop and quickly retrieves the bag and suitcase from the trunk. She can't help but feel grateful that their house is between her work and Waverly’s school so she was able to stop by and throw some clothes and necessities into the bag and suitcase. Nicole hands the bag to it's rightful owner and rolls the suitcase behind her. She takes her wife's hand in hers and gives it a gentle squeeze. The airport is as Waverly thought it would be: packed. The trembling brunette follows her wife as they navigate the airport. After quickly making their way through security, Nicole’s eyes scan the signs up above their heads for directions on how to get them to Gate 113. A couple of turns later and they are finally standing at the gate that Nicole was told to go to. She asks Waverly to stay back with their belongings as she makes her way up to the front desk. A younger blonde in a vest and tie looks up at her and offers her a somewhat wavering smile.

"My name is Nicole. Nicole Earp-Haught. I'm a friend of Eliza’s." She states while wiping the sweat, that is accumulating on her palms, on her ripped jeans. She intently watches the lady before her scan her eyes across the computer screen. "Ah yes. She called a little while ago. Your plane boards in 5 minutes. Did Eliza tell you the predicament?" The woman's eyes flicker to the brunette guarding the bags.

Nicole’s heart sinks even further to her stomach and she swallows the lump that has set up camp in her dry throat. "Yeah." The woman sighs and offers the blonde in front of her a nod. "Did she tell you the plan?"

"Mhmm. All the flight attendants know so you're good." The woman hands her the boarding passes and Nicole thanks her before making her way back to the sitting brunette who is nervously bouncing her left leg up and down. She stuffs the envelope with her name on it in the front pocket of her jacket and squats down in front of the hazel-eyed girl who holds her heart. She sets Waverly's envelope on her lap and places one hand on her wife's knee, to attempt to stop the bouncing, and the other on her cheek. Nicole’s thumb caresses the tan skin beneath it and she watches as Waverly's eyes flutter closed.

"Everything's going to be okay." The brown-eyed girl promises. She's not sure if she's trying to convince Waverly or herself though. Waverly nods and leans into her wife's touch. Nicole’s heart soars and breaks all at the same time.

"I love you, baby." Nicole smiles lovingly at her beautiful wife. "So much."

"I love you too, Nic." Waverly responds, her eyes looking adoringly into her favorite pair of brown eyes. The brunette quickly closes the gap between the two of them and captures her wife's lips in hers. She brings her hand up in between them and rests it on Nicole’s cheek, her thumb stroking the soft skin beneath it. The kisses they share are soft, yet filled with so much emotion. The brown-eyed girl swipes her tongue across Waverly's bottom lip and the teacher grants her wife access to explore the familiar territory. Nicole breaks the kiss when a voice comes over the intercom and announces that their flight is boarding.

"That's us." Nicole stares into the hazel orbs that she loves so dearly while trying to memorize every aspect of them. Like how they look so tenderly at her and how the light reflects off of them and brings out the specs of gold in her irises. She leans in and plants another quick kiss on Waverly’s soft lips before slowly standing to her feet and pulling her wife up with her. Nicole places her hand on Waverly’s lower back as they make their way to the boarding entrance. The brunette hands her pass to the man and then walks a little ways down the ramp in order to give Nicole room to scan her boarding pass. The redhead hands hers next and the man looks up at her knowingly. His lips form a sad smile as he hands the brown-eyed girl her boarding pass back. She offers him a nod and walks down the ramp to where her wife is waiting patiently. Nicole urgently reaches for Waverly’s hand and leads them the rest of the way down the ramp to the entrance of the airplane, her heart beating faster with every step she takes.

On cue, Nicole hears a voice call to her. "Miss!" The man yells after her and she turns around, as does Waverly. "Your boarding pass didn't scan properly. Can you please come back out here so I can re-scan it?"

Nicole feels Waverly tighten her grip around her hand and the redhead turns to her wife. "I'll be right back, okay?" She offers the handle of the suitcase to Waverly. "Go ahead and get situated and everything. I'll see you soon." She bites the inside of her cheek in attempt to draw blood. A sick attempt to stop herself from crying. An even sicker attempt to inflict pain on herself as punishment for the pain that she is about to cause Waverly.

"Hurry back, Nic. I'm tired and I need a shoulder to sleep on." Waverly quickly leans in and places a gentle kiss on the brown-eyed girl's lips. Nicole tilts her head to deepen the kiss, in attempt to prolong it as much as she can. The man behind her clears his throat and Waverly pulls away before Nicole can protest.

Nicole momentarily intertwines their hands and leans in to plant a quick kiss on her wife's nose. "Love you, baby."

Waverly giggles and returns the gesture. "Back at ya, brown eyes."

Nicole reluctantly retracts her hand and follows the man back up the ramp. She turns around one last time in hopes to catch one more glimpse of her beautiful wife. The redhead watches as Waverly steps onto the plane. A light chuckle escapes her lips as she watches the girl struggle to get the suitcase over a crack. The chuckle turns into a sob as soon as the brunette vanishes from her sight. She finally allows the tears to escape her eyes and race down her cheeks.

There was only room for one on the plane. When Nicole called Eliza, she did the best she could, but everything was already booked up. Nicole blamed herself. If she had just turned on the television sooner or just walked out of her office sooner, she would have seen the sheer panic. If she hadn't been so consumed in her work then maybe she would be on the plane with her wife right now, listening to her soft snores while she slept on Nicole’s shoulder. When Eliza informed her that she could only get one, she knew she'd get her wife on that plane no matter what it took. Eliza helped her devise the plan and told her that she informed the flight attendants and pilot to not stop the plane or let Waverly off no matter how much she pleaded or begged.

Apparently it was a damn good plan because the plane with the love of her life on it just tore away from the boarding ramp, effectively tearing Nicole’s heart out of her chest. The redhead manages to drag her body back off the ramp and to the window overlooking the runway. She studies the plane as it slowly drives by the window that she is standing at. Her eyes scan each of the round windows of the plane until they finally land on her favorite brunette.

Even from this far, she can see Waverly’s tiny fists desperately banging on the circular window. Nicole allows another sob to escape her lips as she watches her wife try to shatter the glass that separates the two of them. The glass may not be shattering, but Nicole’s heart sure is. It’s shattering into pieces that she knows only Waverly will be able to put back together when they reunite. If they reunite.

She places her shaky palm on the glass in front of her as the fresh tears trailing down her cheeks hit her already damp shirt. The brown-eyed girl watches Waverly mimic her action as she places her palm on the small window in front of her that she was trying to shatter just a second ago.

Moments later, the plane takes off down the runway, and Nicole’s whole world comes crumbling down around her.


	2. Chapter 2

_1 year later..._

Nicole rushes through the Toronto airport with her luggage in tow. Today, she is finally going to be reunited with her wife.

At least she hopes so.

The attack did happen and when it did, Nicole realized that the news had it all wrong. It was not terrorist threat, it was a promise. Nicole’s assistant had a basement in her house and so the redhead drove to her house immediately after she watched Waverly’s plane take off. The brown-eyed girl knew the minute the first attack happened that she was right to get Waverly on that plane and to safety. That didn't mean it hurt any less though.

Luckily, the attack was nothing too severe, but the main things in the city that were damaged were the only things that could reunite her with her wife: the airport and many other ports. In the cities next to theirs, everything was almost obliterated. Eliza had called Nicole a couple of hours later to inform her that Waverly’s plane had landed safely in Toronto.

After the attack, the redhead tried every single day to get to Waverly, but during the attack all modes of transportation were destroyed. Not only did she have to wait for the new airport to be built, but she had to wait for more planes to arrive as well. Even then, there was a waiting list to get on a plane. Even though Nicole was at the top of the list because she was pretty well known in the city, it was still a relatively long process. Eventually she got a plane ticket and she was ecstatic about that, but it still crushed her every time she remembered that when she arrived at the airport, her wife would not be there waiting for her.

The brown-eyed girl tried every day for a year to get a hold of her wife, but she was not able to. Every time she called the number that used to belong to Waverly, a man picked up and told her she had the wrong number. She still doesn't know why her wife never tried to contact her. Even if Waverly lost her phone, Nicole knew she had her number memorized. Every single day for the past year, Nicole had to wonder if Waverly hated her for what she did or worse, if Waverly was even okay.

The redhead exits the airport and breathes in the familiar Toronto air. It's been two years since she was last here. Nicole left the Canada with Waverly two years ago and she has not returned until today. The slight rain hitting the top of her head snaps her out of her thoughts and she hails a taxi and has the taxi drop her off at the closest school to the airport. All day, Nicole goes down her list of schools in the Toronto area in search of her wife. She knows Waverly loves her job, so she figures her wife got another job teaching music at one of the schools here in Toronto. Unfortunately, no one by the name of Waverly Earp or Waverly Earp-Haught is employed at any of the schools Nicole goes to.

After a long and incredibly exhausting day of searching, Nicole retires to her favorite bar, Shorty’s. She orders a whiskey neat and then grabs a napkin and a pen from the bartender and starts writing down places that her wife could be.

_Bookstores_   
_Music stores_   
_Coffee shops_

Waverly and Nicole spent a lot of their time together at all of those places, so those would definitely be the first places that she'd look. Waverly absolutely adores books, music, coffee, and just food in general. However, Nicole doesn't really think that 80% cream and 20% espresso should even be considered coffee, but Waverly always labelled it as such.

"You here for the live music?" Nicole raises her head up when she sees someone sit on the bar stool next to her. She's beautiful. The sweater she's wearing reminds her of something Waverly would wear and she smiles briefly at the thought.

Nicole realizes she should speak up, even if she doesn't want company. "No." She shakes her head and returns to her list. The brown-eyed girl is really in no mood for small talk. The only person she even wants to see right now, she can't find.

"You should stay, she's amazing. The best in town." The stranger assures the redhead next to her.

"Look." Nicole sets her pen down and spins on the stool to face the girl. She holds her left hand out in front of the two of them. "I'm married and I'm looking for my wife, so I'm really not interested. I'm sorry."

The girl chuckles as she takes Nicole’s hand to admire the ring. "Beautiful ring. I actually have one of those too." She raises her hand up as well and Nicole’s eyes widen when she sees the diamond on the girl's finger. Nicole silently curses herself for being so unnecessarily rude to the stranger.

"I feel like such a jackass. I'm sorry." Nicole runs her fingers through her hair and offers the girl to her right an apologetic smile.

"It's perfectly fine. You seem stressed, so I won't hold it against you. I hope you find your wife." She extends her right hand and dangles it between the two of them. "I'm Chrissy, by the way."

Chrissy. Nicole’s heard that name before. But from where?

The brown-eyed girl quickly takes the awaiting hand in hers and shakes it. "Nicole." She smiles before taking another sip of her whiskey and picking up the pen so she can finish her task. She hears the faint sound of the strumming of a guitar, but she tunes it out as she studies the napkin in front of her, trying to decide where she should look next.

"She's starting." Chrissy claps as she turns to face the small makeshift stage at the back of the bar. Nicole takes another sip of her drink and as soon as she does, a familiar voice fills her ears, one that she would recognize from anywhere. The brown-eyed girl chokes on the mouthful of whiskey and grimaces as it slides down the wrong way. This gets Chrissy’s attention and she swivels back around to check on the girl beside her.

Nicole just offers a thumbs up showing that she will be okay. When she finally gets her coughing under control, she spins around on her bar stool so quickly that she almost falls off of it. She vaguely hears the girl next to her ask if everything is okay, but she doesn't answer. She is too busy taking in every detail of the brunette sitting on a bar stool on the stage 20 feet from where she is sitting.

The young teacher is wearing a red cropped shirt, dark jeans, and a black choker. Her long brown hair is pulled back in a messy bun and she has a content grin on her face as she looks out into the audience. Nicole’s heart is beating so fast that she swears Chrissy can feel the vibrations of it from where she's sitting. The brown-eyed girl wants nothing more than to just rush on stage and take her favorite brunette into her arms and never let her go, but she doesn't want to overstep her boundaries. A lot can change in a year. She knows that.

Her thoughts are interrupted when she feels a hand cover her own, the one gripping the bar stool under her with so much force that her knuckles are turning white. "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." Chrissy questions as she takes in the appearance of the brown-eyed girl sitting next to her. She's worried that if she grips the bar stool any tighter she's going to break it.

"I have." Nicole whispers as she tears her eyes away from the hand on top of hers and focuses her attention back on the most beautiful girl in the room. 

Her wife.

"She's pretty, huh?" Chrissy smirks at the visibly shaken girl next to her. Waverly seems to have this effect on a lot of people, men and women. However, Chrissy can tell by the way Nicole is looking at Waverly that there's something more there than just physical attraction.

"Beautiful, as always." Nicole answers as she watches Waverly position her mouth in front of the microphone again. Her voice fills Nicole’s ears for the second time today and the redhead is worried that her heart is about to explode.

"So this is a song I wrote a couple of months ago. It's called ‘Living Proof.' Hope you enjoy it." Waverly addresses the audience for a brief moment before refocusing her attention back on her guitar and strumming the familiar chords.

_Tell me something, but say it with your hands slow_   
_When you touch me, paint me like a Van Gogh_   
_I wanna study every inch of you_   
_'Til you trust me to make the angels come through_

_Like a choir singing, "Hallelujah"_   
_When my body's crashin' right into ya_   
_When we align, ooh yeah_   
_Do you feel me?_   
_Can you feel me?_   
_'Cause I can't breathe_

Nicole watches how Waverly mindlessly tucks her lip between her teeth as she strums the guitar that she is balancing in her lap. The redhead couldn’t tear her eyes away if she wanted.

_Where did you come from, baby?_  
 _And were you sent to save me?_  
 _There's god in every move,_  
 _And you're the living proof_   
_The way your hands can't shake me_  
 _Soft to the touch like baby,_  
 _There's god in every move,_  
 _And you're the living proof_

Nicole is completely blown away, but not at Waverly’s voice. She always knew her wife could sing like an angel. The hazel-eyed girl would sing in the car, the shower, while she was putting her make up on. Really any chance she got. Every single time she did, the brown-eyed girl would stop what she was doing and listen. Nicole’s always been her biggest fan. However, today, the redhead is blown away because Waverly would never sing for anyone, but her. She always encouraged her wife to do these kinds of gigs, but Waverly would never agree to the idea. She always assured Nicole that if she ever got on stage, she would pull an Aubrey from Pitch Perfect and puke all over the stage and everyone sitting near it.

_Countin' freckles, as they run down your spine_  
 _Show your demons, and I might show you mine_  
 _One at a time, yeah, yeah_  
 _What are you hidin'? What a design, yeah, yeah_  
 _I wanna dive in, what a divine moment_  
 _Can you feel me? Can you feel me?_   
_'Cause I can't breathe_

_Where did you come from, baby?_  
 _And were you sent to save me?_   
_There's god in every move,_   
_And you're the living proof_   
_The way your hands can't shake me_  
 _Soft to the touch like baby,_   
_There's god in every move,_   
_And you're the living proof_

Waverly strums the last note on her guitar and Nicole, along with everyone else in the bar, jumps to her feet and starts clapping like a proud mom. A small smile tugs at her lips as she thinks back to the times when Waverly would play a new song that she had wrote for her. Nicole would always put her hand over her heart and dramatically voice that she was a proud mom after the song was over. Waverly would always smirk and say "proud daddy, maybe." The brown-eyed girl would always blush furiously and playfully scold her wife. Waverly would always call her daddy to get under her skin and she hated it. However, at this moment, she is sure that Waverly could call her that and she would just kiss the smirk off her face.

The redhead slowly stands from her bar stool and makes her way to the stage at the back of the bar. Her shaking legs are making walking an extremely difficult task though. Nicole stops within 5 feet of the stage and wipes her sweaty palms on her jeans as she watches Waverly pack up her belongings.

What if she doesn't forgive her? What if she hates her for what she did?

Nicole doesn't think she can move and she sure as hell cannot form a coherent sentence. She releases a shaky breath and then lets the familiar nickname fall from her lips.

"Waves."


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as hazel eyes meet brown ones, Nicole lunges forward and takes the tiny brunette into her arms.

Nicole expected a lot.

She expected Waverly to be mad.

She expected Waverly to scream at her.

But she never expected what happened next.

The brunette shoves Nicole back as hard as she can and the distance she puts between them finally gives the redhead a chance to see that the hazel eyes, that she loves so much, are not familiar and warm anymore. The woman watches as her wife starts to retreat away from her until her back hits the wall of the bar. Nicole watches as the brunette sinks to the floor and curls herself into a small ball. The redhead faintly hears gasping noises start to fill the air.

_Is she... hyperventilating?_ Nicole wonders as she takes in the girl's smaller form.

Waverly’s eyes go wide as she struggles to catch her breath. She curses her body for reacting this way every time someone unexpectedly touches her. After what happened to her almost a year ago, she just has not been the same.

The brown-eyed girl suddenly springs into action, her protective instincts taking over. “Baby… Baby, what is it?" Nicole panics as she kneels down next to the trembling girl. "Breathe, Waves." She coaxes while rubbing the girl's back. The sound of Waverly’s ragged breathing is tearing her heart in two. Four years together and Nicole has never once seen her wife have a panic attack. The redhead just continues to rub circles on the teacher's back in attempt to slow her panicked breathing. When Waverly scoots further away from her, Nicole’s heart breaks even more than she thought it ever possibly could. The worst part is, Nicole can't even tell if she is the cause of the fear in Waverly’s eyes or if the panic attack is.

Before Nicole can scoot any closer to the girl, she is yanked back. She turns around to give the culprit a piece of her mind, but is met with a fiery brunette who looks incredibly intimidating. Nicole watches as the girl's eyes flicker between her and Waverly, who is behind her. The stranger’s eyes soften immensely when they land on the brunette who is still struggling to breathe.

"You." Rosita points to the wide-eyed redhead in front of her. "Stay here. I'm not done with you.” Nicole notices a presence beside her and she looks over to see Chrissy. "Chriss, watch her." Rosita points to the brown-eyed girl. The brunette then turns on her heels and makes her way to where Waverly is sitting. She sits down beside her and transfers her from the floor to her lap in one quick motion.

"Okay Wave, breathe for me." Rosita whispers in Waverly’s ear as she rocks her slowly. "You're safe. I've got you."

Nicole feels a pang of jealously run through her as she watches her wife being comforted by another woman. Jealously turns to relief as soon as Waverly’s breathing slowly starts to return to normal again. After a couple of minutes, Waverly removes her head from Rosita’s neck and finally locks eyes with the soft brown ones that haven't stopped staring at her.

"Waves." Nicole steps forward again, but halts as soon as she watches Rosita set Waverly back down and stand up.

"You need to go." Rosita points behind Nicole to the exit of the bar. Before Nicole can protest, her favorite voice finally fills the air again.

"Rosi, it's okay." Waverly stands up and places a hand on the brunette’s shoulder. Rosita searches Waverly’s eyes and when she finds the reassurance she is looking for, she backs off and goes to stand beside Chrissy.

Unable to stare into the brown eyes before her, Waverly starts to play with her fingers. She wants to apologize for her outburst, but she doesn't know how. She never knows how to apologize for them, so she's gotten to where she just doesn't. Luckily, Nicole speaks up and breaks the awkward silence. "Are you okay? How are you feeling, baby?"

Waverly’s eyebrows knit together at the use of the pet name. "Why do you keep calling me that?" She finally drops her hands to her side and looks up to search the girl's face for answers. Instead, she just finds herself getting lost in the chocolate eyes that are oozing nothing but love and kindness.

Nicole swallows the lump that has set up camp in her throat and steps forward. "Look, I know you are mad at me, but I did it for a good reason and I've been trying to get in touch with you for a year, but I haven't been able to. I came to find you as soon as I got a flight." The redhead slowly reaches her hand out and clasps it around Waverly’s left hand. To her surprise, she doesn't pull away so Nicole takes it upon herself to interlace their hands. Out of habit, Nicole’s finger goes to trace her wife’s wedding band, but all she feels is smooth skin under her touch. Stunned, Nicole looks down and finds Waverly’s ring finger bare. "W-where's your wedding ring?"

"What wedding ring? I'm not married." The teacher states simply as she looks into the eyes in front of her and watches them fill with tears and a hint of disbelief.

Nicole panics as she runs her fingers through her hair. "Tell me this is some kind of joke." She narrows her eyes at the brunette in front of her. "Waves, we've been married for two fucking years!"

Waverly steps back when Nicole raises her voice and the redhead immediately chastises herself when she sees the fear and confusion in the girl's eyes. "I-I don't know what you're talking about. I'm sorry." The brunette takes another step back, clearly intimidated by the girl in front of her.

Rosita, having witnessed the whole scene, steps in after something clicks in her mind. She quickly approaches the redhead who looks as if she will break down as soon as one more word leaves Waverly’s mouth. "Nicole, is it? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Nicole tears her eyes away from the confused hazel ones before her and stares at the woman who just addressed her. Once the words register with her, she solemnly nods her head and follows the girl to the front of the bar where she sat earlier with Chrissy. Rosita sits down and pulls the bar stool next to her out as an invitation for Nicole to do the same.

"Let me start by introducing myself." The woman turns to face Nicole. "I'm Rosita. Waverly’s childhood best friend."

_That's where I've heard that name before,_ Nicole thinks as she remembers her wife's stories about her childhood and grade school days.

Nicole carefully takes the hand that has been extended to her and shakes it. "Nicole. Waverly’s wife." She speaks confidently.

Rosita sighs and offers the redhead a sympathetic smile. "I believe you... but Waverly might not." She finally states after finding the right words to say. Nicole just furrows her eyebrows and waits for the brunette to continue. "About a year ago, I got a call from Michelle, Waverly’s mother. She was frantic." Nicole feels her hands getting clammy as she listens to Rosita. "Apparently Waverly had been assaulted one night at a hotel here in Toronto. None of us even knew Waverly was back, we hadn't really spoken to her in years. I mean the last thing we knew was that she had left the country to teach abroad." Rosita explains.

Nicole’s worst fears just came true. Her wife was hurt and she wasn't there to protect her. Her heart slams against her chest cavity with so much force that she can hear it in her ears. Rosita knows it's a lot to process so she gives the girl in front of her some time to do so. Nicole clears her throat and finally speaks up. "She was assaulted.. was she umm..." Nicole can't find it in herself to choke out the one word that sits on the edge of her tongue.

Luckily, Rosita knows what she is insinuating and quickly reassures her. "No, no they didn't touch her like that." Rosita informs the redhead and watches as she releases a sigh of relief, similar to the one she released herself after the doctors informed them that Waverly had not been sexually assaulted. "But they left her in critical condition." She regretfully informs Nicole. "They uh bashed her head into a wall and the ground and the knife they held to her throat left a cut so deep that it almost killed her." She continues. "They took everything she owned. Money, phone, and we didn't know it then, but her wedding ring." Nicole balls her fists up so tightly that she can feel her nails piercing through her palms.

_How could they do that to my wife? To Waverly? The kindest, most innocent human being to walk the face of the earth,_ Nicole thinks as unwanted images of a beaten Waverly pour into her mind.

"So the head trauma... she can't remember anything?" Nicole asks, her voice shaky.

"She remembers everything up until her senior year of high school." Rosita informs the distraught girl sitting on the stool in front of her.

Nicole’s shoulders slump. "Is there uh any chance she will get her memory back?"

"They said it's possible, but not likely. The doctors said it's a miracle she even survived." Rosita looks over her shoulder at the brunette who is talking to Chrissy. Rosita absolutely hated being separated from Waverly all through college and two years after college. The brunette understood Waverly’s reasoning for wanting to leave Purgatory though and tried not to take offense when Waverly changed her number and didn't tell anyone back home, including her. That didn't change the fact that everyday she missed her best friend and everyday she beat herself up for not standing up for Waverly more, for not letting the brunette know that what she was feeling was okay. Ever since she received the call from Michelle, the brunette vowed to never leave Waverly's side and vowed to always have her back.

Rosita tears her eyes away from her best friend when she hears sniffling. She watches as the redhead angrily wipes away the tears that are racing down her face.

"Look, Nicole. I don't know you or anything about you, but I believe that you two were married. I can tell you love her. I see it in your eyes. I'm not asking you to get lost, but just lay low for awhile please." She pleads. "Wave is still recovering from the attack and she's still going to therapy twice a month. She also has panic attacks like the one you saw earlier quite frequently." Nicole nods her head, quietly agreeing to Rosita’s request.

Rosita knows there is one more thing she has to tell the girl sitting before her, but she doesn't really know how to go about doing that, seeing as she is already severely distraught. However, the brunette knows the girl before her needs to know, even if it will be hard for her to come to terms with it. "Nicole, there's also something else you should know."

The redhead watches as the brunette in front of her tries to find the courage to tell her something. Her heart continues to pound against the inside of her chest forcefully and she swears there is someone wrapping their hands around her throat and choking her.

"Waverly is kind of-" Rosita starts, only to be interrupted by her friend's voice.

"Babe!" Nicole hears a familiar voice shout and she turns around to answer to the name that the same sweet voice has called her for the past 4 years. Her eyes find the hazel-eyed girl and the smile that was making it's way to her lips, suddenly diminishes as she realizes that term of endearment is not being directed toward her. Nicole watches as the young teacher makes her way across the bar, the brown-eyed girl's heart sinking further and further with each step she takes away from her.

Nicole has felt pain. The time she broke her arm in the 5th grade. The time she collided with the pavement headfirst after she fell off of her skateboard in the 10th grade. The time she was nailed in the face with the softball in 12th grade.

But none of that pain even comes close to comparing to the pain she is feeling right now as she watches her Waverly... her wife… jump into the arms of someone else.


	4. Chapter 4

All of the air is ripped from Nicole’s lungs as she watches her wife press her body up against the brown-headed boy that just sauntered into the bar. That's the thing about love. It can take your breath away in the best way possible or it can take your breath away in the worst way possible. Usually when it pertains to Waverly and her love for the girl, it's the former of the two, but today, it's the latter.

Nicole watches as Waverly pulls back from the hug and then leans in to capture the boy's lips in her own. She watches as the boy's hands travel from her wife's hips to her butt momentarily to give it a firm squeeze. Waverly grabs his hands and moves them back to her hips which doesn't surprise Nicole one bit because her wife was never really too keen on PDA.

The redhead has always strived to live by the quote "Let no man pull you so low as to hate him" and has always tried her hardest to love everyone around her. She always gives the benefit of the doubt to everyone and always makes sure to get to know someone before deciding who they are as a person. But today, today all of that went down the drain. She offers a quick apology to Martin Luther King Jr because today, she has been pulled low and her body is burning with hatred toward the man who currently has his arms snaked around her wife's waist.

Meanwhile, Rosita keeps alternating her gaze between Nicole and the couple sucking face at the other side of the bar.

_She's about to break that damn bar stool with her bare hands,_ Rosita thinks as she watches the brown-eyed girl's knuckles turn white.

After what seems like an eternity of kissing, Nicole decides that she's had enough of the cringe-worthy public display of affection in front of her and starts to stand up from the bar stool so she can mop the dirty ass floor beneath her shoes with the dirty ass man who has his paws all over her girl. Before she can take a step though, she feels a hand latch onto her wrist to prevent her from moving forward. She turns around to face a sympathetic Rosita and waits for her to give her a good enough reason to not kill the man who has her entire world in his hands.

"That's her livelihood, Nicole. She has been with him for 5 months." Rosita speaks up and Nicole doesn't make another move toward the couple in front of her. Turns out, Rosita’s reason is actually a good enough reason for Nicole not to kill this guy. Right now anyways. The redhead knows the past year has been complete hell on Waverly and the last thing she wants to do is come into her life and disrupt it.

Rosita, noticing that Nicole has calmed down somewhat, slowly releases her grip on the redhead and prays she stays put. "Trust me when I say that I would rather her be with you and I just met you." The brunette informs the agitated woman. "Champ is well..." She tries to think of the right words to say to describe Waverly’s boyfriend, but none of the ones coming to her mind are appropriate enough to say in front of a girl she has just met. Plus, she doesn't want to give Nicole another reason to want to kill the man who's latched onto Waverly. Mainly because she knows that if Nicole does go after him, she will only pour a drink and cheer her on as she watches her kick his ass and then Rosita would be in trouble with Waverly for not stopping Nicole.

"Everything okay?" A whisper breaks Rosita from her thoughts and she looks over to see Chrissy sliding onto the stool next to hers.

"Nope." Rosita sighs as she watches Waverly untangle herself from Champ and walk over to the three of them. She stops a couple of feet in front of them and shoves her hands into the front pockets of her jeans.

"Hey sorry to interrupt, but I was just going to tell you that I'm going to stay with Champ tonight so don't wait up." The young brunette tries to focus on her best friend and not the brown eyes that seem to be burning a hole in the side of her head.

Rosita sighs again. Something she always seems to do anytime Champ is around or anytime his name even comes up in conversation. "Wave, I really think you should stay here and sort this-"

"I want to... Believe me." Waverly glances in Nicole’s direction for a split second before giving her attention back to Rosita. "But Champ is hungry and I promised I would cook for him tonight." She looks apologetically at her friend while nervously picking at her thumb nail. Rosita just nods understandingly. Waverly offers her a small smile and then turns to address the brown-eyed girl, silently praying she doesn't get hypnotized by those chocolate eyes. "I'm sorry..."

"Nicole." The redhead pipes up when she realizes that Waverly is fishing for her name.

"Nicole." Waverly repeats after her, trying the name out on her own tongue. This elicits a small smile from the owner of the name.

The brown-eyed girl reaches up to scratch the back of her neck, a nervous habit of hers. "Maybe we can uh-"

"Waverly!" A loud voice interrupts Nicole and she cringes. "My car is running and I know you don't have the money to pay for my next tank of gas so let's go."

The redhead clenches her jaw so tight that she wouldn't be a bit surprised if her teeth started cracking from the pressure. She hears a scoff from Chrissy and a hushed “oh hell no” from Rosita.

Waverly turns around momentarily to signal to the boy that she would only be one minute and then turns back around to address her best friend. "I'll see you later, Rosi?" She asks hopefully. 

"We live together so I'd hope so." Rosita playfully sticks her tongue out at her best friend. Waverly grins and opens her mouth to reply, but the words get lost on her tongue when her body is jerked back.

"Did you not hear me the first time? I said I'm fucking hungry. Come on." Champ spits as he tightens his grip on the brunette and starts dragging her toward the exit of the bar. Waverly knows there's no sense in fighting him, so she just lets him drag her away from her friends and to the exit. The redhead, on the other hand, has seen enough and she stands up from the stool. Her eyes narrow in on the brown headed boy and she has every intention of going after him. Once again, before she can take a step, she is stopped. She looks over to see that Chrissy is the one halting her this time. Chrissy knows she has to stop Nicole because she knows her fiancé would be more than happy to just sit back and watch Nicole kick his ass.

"Let her go." Chrissy sighs, her heart clenching as she takes in the broken girl before her. She feels the same way that Rosita and Nicole do about Champ, but she knows he's Waverly’s boyfriend. She also knows that if the brown-eyed girl wants to win Waverly back, she cannot physically harm the girl's boyfriend. Especially not right in front of her and a whole bar full of people. Plus, any type of violence causes Waverly to have a panic attack, and so not only did she stop Nicole so she could have a chance, but she stopped her to protect her friend's health.

Nicole watches every step Waverly takes to the door and just like in the airport, her heart breaks more and more as the distance between the two of them widens. When Waverly gets to the door, she turns around one last time and locks eyes with the worried brown ones across the room. The young teacher offers a sympathetic smile to the owner of the beautiful chocolate eyes, one in which Nicole returns. Then the door opens and closes and Waverly is gone. Nicole huffs and sits back down on her bar stool in defeat. She spins around rests her head in her hands.

"Three whiskeys please." Rosita tells the bartender after she signals for him to come over. She momentarily lifts her hand up and hovers it inches away from Nicole’s back before retracting it. She so desperately wants to provide some sort of comfort, but she knows that the only source of comfort Nicole wants right now just walked out of the door. Well just got dragged out of the door, but that's beside the point. Rosita feels a hand interlace with hers and she squeezes it, silently thanking Chrissy for the comfort. As soon as the bartender brings the drinks, she slides one over to Nicole, keeps one for herself, and slides the remaining one in Chrissy’s direction.

Nicole finally lifts her head when a glass hits her arm. She offers Rosita a grateful smile before bringing the glass up to her lips and taking a large gulp. Normally the bitter liquid would burn going down, but right now she doesn't feel it. Right now her body can't seem to feel anything. She traces the rim of the glass with her pointer finger as she replays what happened just moments ago in her head. She can't seem to shake off what she saw flicker in Waverly’s hazel eyes when she interacted with the brunette boy. Dread? Fear? Nicole just can't seem to put her finger on it, but she knows it wasn't happiness or bliss. That elates her, but also terrifies her. She cannot simply stand the thought of Waverly unhappy and she doesn't understand how someone could treat such a beautiful soul so poorly. As she sits there contemplating what type of guy Champ is, she thinks back to her earlier conversation with Rosita.

"Douchebag... conceited... jackass…” Nicole lists off the words that come to her mind as she stares at the variety of bottles sitting on the wall in front of her. "Are those the words you were looking for to describe the boy-man earlier?" She turns to face the brunette beside her.

Rosita chokes on her drink and Chrissy pats her on the back until her coughing fit ends. "I knew I liked you." The brunette wags her finger at the brown-eyed girl.

Nicole smirks momentarily before grabbing her drink and taking another swig. Her smirk fades as soon as she lets her mind wander again. She briefly looks at the two girls next to her and she finds comfort in knowing that her wife has had Rosita and Chrissy by her side for a year. Nicole just met the girls, but she can tell that they are fiercely loyal friends and incredibly fun to be around. She knows that they will all become the best of friends.

"All kidding aside, you already have two people in your corner." Rosita states as she nudges Nicole’s shoulder with her own and gestures between herself and Chrissy. “We’re rooting for you two." The brunette winks and Nicole offers her a grateful smile before downing the rest of the liquid in her glass.


	5. Chapter 5

Nicole wakes up the next morning and drags herself out of the bed. She enters the hotel bathroom and grimaces when she sees the bags under her eyes. Truth be told, she didn't sleep a wink last night. How could she when she knows her wife is sleeping over at her boyfriend's house? The same boyfriend that yelled condescending things at her in front of her own friends and a bar full of strangers. The same boyfriend that gripped her arm with so much force that Nicole saw a grimace appear on Waverly’s beautiful features. The redhead grips the counter in front of her tightly as she remembers what happened the night before. After taking a few calming breaths, she releases her hold on the counter and strips off her clothes so she can shower.

After getting herself ready, Nicole heads down to the lobby to grab a bagel from the continental breakfast and takes a seat at one of the open tables in the room. She spreads cream cheese on her bagel and then pulls out her phone and grabs a pen from her jacket pocket. She researches a few car lots and writes down the addresses on a napkin. Under it, she writes down the addresses for all the local pawn shops around her. The final addresses that she writes down are for nearby apartment complexes. After finishing her blueberry bagel and orange juice, she hails a taxi and heads to the nearest car lot.

The redhead decides on a red Jeep Wrangler and drives off the lot with it. Could she have afforded a BMW or Audi? Yes. But this was an easy decision. Jeep Wranglers have always been her favorite type of car because it's the car that her wife used for transportation all throughout her high school and college years. Nicole rode in it and drove it millions of times and watched as Waverly cried when she had to sell it before they left for Venice. She shed a few tears as well because the Jeep held many memories for the both of them.

No other vehicle would do.

After filling out the necessary paperwork, she plugs one of the pawn shop addresses into her phone and makes her way to it. Three pawn shops later and she hasn't found what she's looking for, so she plugs in the last unused address on her napkin into the GPS and heads there.

Nicole pushes the wooden door open and makes her way into the small shop. A gray haired man emerges from the back and offers Nicole a warm smile, one in which she returns.

"How may I help you today?" He asks as he stands behind the glass counter filled with trinkets.

"May I please see your wedding band collection?" Nicole asks while placing her phone and wallet on top of the glass case between them. The man nods and grabs a set of keys from his pocket.

"Male or female?" He asks as he squats down to get eye level with the case.

"Female." She answers and the man reaches in the case and retrieves a box of rings. As soon as he sets it in front of her, she starts digging through them all. Her eyes scan each ring as she sifts through the pile of rings and after 10 minutes of searching, she starts to lose hope. That is until a familiar band catches her eye. The redhead holds her breath and grabs the silver ring with the oval shaped diamond on the top. She brings it up to her eyesight and then tilts it a bit so she can look underneath it. Tears well in her eyes as she sees the sun that is engraved on the underneath side of the band. A sob escapes her lips and she allows a couple of tears to fall before quickly wiping them away. She always referred to Waverly as her sun because she was just a big ball of light. Eventually, Waverly started referring to Nicole as her moon because she said that she was the light in the midst of all the darkness in the world. That is why her own wedding band is engraved with a moon.

The man, having heard the redhead sniffling, walks over to her. "Find what you were looking for?"

"I did." She beams and places the ring on the glass in between the two of them. "I want to buy this one... again."

She watches as the man furrows his eyebrows for a second before a look of understanding crosses his slightly wrinkled face. "It was stolen, huh?"

The redhead sighs and runs her fingers though her hair. "Yeah. The shithead almost k-killed her." She wills the tears away and curses herself when one falls. She hates crying in front of people. Especially strangers.

"Take it." The man grabs Nicole’s right hand that is resting on the counter and flips it over. He places the ring on her palm and closes her hand around it. "You aren't paying for something that's already yours."

Nicole clutches the ring tightly in her hand and offers the man a grateful smile. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." The man nods, a small smile playing on his lips. "Now go place it back on your wife's finger where it belongs."

"Thank you. So much." Nicole wipes a tear away and offers the man another smile before making her way back to her car. As soon as she gets in, she unclasps the chain from around her neck and slips the ring on it, watching as it slides down the chain before coming to rest alongside the pendent that has her and Waverly’s wedding date engraved on it.

She spends the rest of her morning apartment hunting. Four apartment complexes later and she still isn't pleased. None of them have spoken to her. The first apartment she bought with Waverly spoke to her and she knew when she toured it for the first time, that she wanted to live there with her girlfriend.

_“Nicole, I swear if you let me fall I will murder you with my bare hands." Waverly mumbles as she walks forward, one of Nicole’s hands covering both of her eyes._

_“C’mon, cutie, don’t you trust me?" Nicole chuckles as she shuts the car door with her free hand._

_"You? Yeah. Do I trust myself to walk without sight? No. You know I already trip over thin air and that is with both of my eyes uncovered." Waverly sighs and she attempts to reason with the brown-eyed girl who has one hand over her eyes and the other on the small of her back. "Plus, yesterday we flew 12 hours on a plane so I'm still a bit jet-lagged. We all know that a jet-lagged Waverly is a tired Waverly and a tired Waverly is an accident prone Waverly." The brown-eyed girl shakes her head and just chuckles at how dramatic her girlfriend is._

_"I won't let you fall, baby. I swear I've got you." Nicole promises as she leans around to plant a kiss to the brunette’s cheek. Waverly sighs and lets Nicole be her sight for the next couple of minutes. After a couple of steps forward, Nicole brings them to a stop. "Okay Waves, just one more staircase and we will be there."_

_Leading Waverly to where she wanted her to go turned out to be easier than she thought. The hard part was making Waverly keep her eyes closed while Nicole drove them from the hotel to here. The two were supposed to be looking for a place to live together, but yesterday when Waverly was out job hunting, Nicole took it upon herself to go apartment hunting._

_The brunette groans, but doesn't protest._

_“Okay, take a step." Nicole encourages and watches as her wife picks up her boot clad foot and places it on the step in front of her. Then she brings the other foot up to join and once both feet are on the first step, Waverly continues the process and the two of them slowly ascend the staircase. "One more, babe, you're doing great." The taller girl praises the brunette in front of her. After Waverly conquers the last step, Nicole breathes a sigh of relief. The redhead leads Waverly a couple of more steps to the destination and then once her girlfriend’s feet are pointing at the door in front of her, Nicole leans in and positions her lips close to her ear. "Open your eyes."_

_As soon as the words register with Waverly and she feels Nicole lift her hand from her eyes, she slowly blinks her hazel eyes open and her gaze falls upon a door with the number 202 on it. Tears form in Waverly’s eyes when she realizes what she's looking at._

_"Is this..." She chokes out as she turns around and faces her girlfriend._

_"Our apartment." Nicole finishes her abandoned thought. The tears finally spill over the rims of Waverly’s eyes and she leaps into her girlfriend's arms._

_"Our apartment." The young brunette sighs as she tightens her grip on the redhead. "Our. Apartment." She squeals before pulling back and looking into her favorite pair of brown eyes._

_Nicole nods and brings her hands up to rest on her girlfriend’s cheeks. She uses her thumbs to wipe away the tears that are cascading down her tan skin._

Nicole smiles fondly at the memory and plugs in the second to last apartment complex address into her phone. When she arrives, they immediately take her to tour it and she can’t help but smile the entire time because so far this has been her favorite one. It is a cozy one-bedroom apartment and it is not too far from downtown. The place also has a swimming pool and workout room so that's a plus.

"So what do you think?" The woman asks as she shows Nicole the inside of the apartment.

"Well I really love it, but I still have one more apartment complex to check out before I make my final decisions." The brown-eyed girl offers her a hopeful smile. "Can I get back to you?"

"Of course. Just-" The lady is interrupted by the ringing of her phone. "I need to take this, but just come back by if you decide you are interested." She smiles before walking into the bedroom of the apartment to answer the call. The redhead whips her phone out and starts to plug in the address of the last apartment complex as she exits. She only looks up from the device when her body collides with something. Well someone.

"I'm so sor-" The words die on her lips as she looks up and her eyes meet her favorite hazel ones. "Waves. Hi."


	6. Chapter 6

“Nicole, right?" The brunette asks as she smiles shyly and Nicole nods. "Sorry I'm pretty bad with remembering names. Well pretty bad with remembering anything these days." She chuckles and Nicole feels her chest tighten at the sound, one of her favorite sounds, that she has been deprived of hearing for over a year.

"Y-yeah it's Nic-"

"Wave, I'm coming!" A voice interrupts Nicole. "Let's go get food I'm starv-" Rosita pauses when she sees the redhead. "...ing. Well well, brown eyes just couldn't stay away." She smirks as Nicole’s face turns a dark shade of red.

“Yeah, well I was apartment hunting and I ran into Waves." Nicole gestures towards her wife.

"Well I guess the hunt is over, huh?" Rosita gives her a quick thumbs up when Waverly isn't looking and the brown-eyed girl chuckles.

"Yeah. I think I've found a good one." The redhead glances at the brunette in front of her and watches as a blush rises to her cheeks. Nicole internally dances for still being able to have that effect on her.

"Mmhmm. Well we are going to get food. Wanna join? Chrissy is meeting us there." Rosita speaks up, effectively breaking the staring contest that's going on between the two former lovers.

"Sure. I could go for some food." Nicole pipes up. A little too enthusiastically probably. Rosita smirks and shakes her head at the enthusiastic reply. "I'll drive." Nicole offers as she pulls out her keys and leads the girls to her car. The redhead clicks the unlock button from a distance and Waverly sets her sights on the car.

“Hey, I used to have a Jeep just like this in high school." Waverly scurries to the red Jeep ahead of the other two girls. "I loved it so much." She comments as she runs her fingers over the hood of Nicole’s new car.

"I know." Nicole whispers as she smiles fondly. She hoped to get this reaction from Waverly when the brunette saw the car for the first time. Nicole knew it was her first car and she got it when she was 16, so the hazel-eyed girl would still have a memory of the car.

"That's so fucking cute." Rosita whispers as she stands by the brown-eyed girl and watches Waverly inspect the car. "You buy a car like the one she had in high school and yet Champ can't even be bothered to remember her birthday. My heart." Rosita dramatically places her hand over her chest.

“Glad to know I have your approval.” Nicole shoots a smile in her direction.

“Of course." Rosita stuffs her hands in the pockets of her jeans. "I might not have met you, but Wave mentioned you when we would occasionally FaceTime."

Nicole smiles as she makes her way over to where Waverly is standing. She goes to the passenger's side door and opens it for the girl. Nicole watches as another blush spreads across the brunette’s cheeks.

"Thank you, Nicole." Waverly offers her a warm smile before sliding into the vehicle.

"You're welcome, baby." The redhead mumbles after the door closes.

As soon as Nicole slides into the driver's seat, she plugs her phone in and turns on a song that she hopes Waverly still likes. She patiently waits for a reaction from the girl to the right of her. Sure enough, as soon as “Ghost" by Adaline starts playing, the hazel-eyed girl perks up.

"I love this song!" Waverly exclaims before singing the first verse loudly. Butterflies erupt in Nicole’s stomach as she listens to her wife sing.

"I know." Nicole smiles over at her and starts to reach for the brunette’s hand, but stops herself and brings the wandering hand up to the wedding band hanging from her neck. It's a piece of Waverly and if she can't hold the girl to the right of her, she'd hold onto the band that symbolizes the promise the two of them made to each other. Nicole’s fingers absentmindedly trace the smooth part of the band, just as she used to do when she held Waverly’s hand in hers. She glances in the rear view mirror momentarily and sees a smirk plastered across Rosita’s face. Nicole just shakes her head and continues to listen to her favorite girl sing her favorite songs.

A few minutes later, Nicole pulls the Jeep into Shorty's parking lot. When all three of them shuffle out of the vehicle. Nicole once again has to stop herself from grabbing the teacher's hand as they are walking. She does, however, open the door for Waverly and let her walk in ahead of her.

"Thank you... again." Waverly offers her a bright smile.

"Anytime." Nicole sends her a quick wink and then shakes her head as Rosita walks through the open door with a smirk still present on her face.

"Rosi! Over here!” Chrissy yells from across the bar. Nicole watches as Rosita makes her way over to a booth in the back with Waverly trailing behind.

“Hi, baby. I missed you." Rosita slides in next to her fiancé and gives her a quick peck on the lips. Nicole’s eyes go wide in shock as she slides into the booth next to Waverly. She didn't see that one coming. She knew Chrissy said she was engaged, but she didn't know it was to the sassy brunette across from her.

"You two are cute." Nicole smiles and points between the two of them.

"Duh." Rosita scoffs and wraps an arm around Chrissy’s shoulders. Nicole rolls her eyes and Waverly chuckles.

“Oh, baby, I forgot to tell you that Nicole thought I was hitting on her at the bar the other day." Chrissy snorts as she informs the brunette of what happened at the bar.

"Psh you aren't her type, Nicole." Rosita remarks. "She's only into hella cute brunettes. Isn’t that right, babe?”

"That's right." Chrissy grabs Rosita’s chin and pulls her in for a kiss.

Nicole, not wanting to stare at the kissing couple, turns to Waverly. "How did they meet?"

"They were friends for a few years and then just one day decided they wanted to be more." She answers while also trying to avoid the couple sucking face across from her. "They were never just friends though. All the longing stares at game nights and at sleepovers were a dead give away. I always knew it was more." Waverly smiles in approval at the two girls in front of her.

"When you know you know." Nicole whispers as she admires her wife's flawless side profile and chiseled jaw line. Waverly having heard the whisper, turns to her right to make eye contact with the brown eyes that are already staring at her intensely. She feels a tingling sensation in her stomach, but dismisses it as just hunger. Waverly breaks their staring when she feels her phone vibrate. She turns it over in her hands and cringes when she sees the name on the screen.

Nicole notices Waverly’s change in demeanor and steals a glance at her phone screen.

Champ.

The brown-eyed girl sighs when Waverly looks at her pleadingly. Nicole gets the hint and shuffles out of the booth so Waverly can do the same.

"I'm just going to uh call him back." Waverly points to her phone and then outside. Nicole watches Rosita roll her eyes. "Order me a Coke please.” The teacher says to no one in particular before turning on her heels and walking out of the bar. Nicole’s eyes follow her until she steps out the door. The redhead turns around occasionally to keep an eye on her wife and every time she does, she sees the tiny brunette pacing the parking lot. She knows the conversation is not friendly because every couple of seconds Waverly runs a hand through her brown locks. Nicole knows she only does that when she's stressed, worried, or frustrated.

"Does this happen a lot?" Nicole turns back around to address the couple in front of her. "Is he always this… controlling?"

"What you've seen is nothing. What we've seen is nothing compared to what I know goes on behind closed doors." Rosita sighs and runs her fingers through her hair.

Nicole sits up straighter and glances behind her to make sure her brunette is still there. "What do you mean by that?"

Rosita starts to open her mouth, but is interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit! Didn’t know you guys were comin’ by for lunch?” Wynonna stands in front of the table and Nicole’s body goes rigid. When she looks up from the menu, she makes eye contact with the woman and Wynonna’s face pales at the sight of the brown-eyed girl. “Haught.”

Confusion. Anger. Betrayal. Just three of the emotions that rush through Nicole when she sees Wynonna. Nicole cannot understand why Wynonna didn’t reach out to her when Waverly was hurt? The redhead and the older Earp never got along because Nicole had a hard time forgiving Wynonna for dropping out of school and leaving Waverly alone with their uncaring, always drunk out of his mind, father. Wynonna would call Waverly a few times a month when they were dating and even when they were married. Waverly being the kind, forgiving person that she is, answered every single phone call because the younger Earp loved her older sister and forgave her easily, even after she left her behind. Nicole and Wynonna only met in person a few times during her and Waverly's senior year of college, but they both knew a lot about the other from Waverly. Nicole just can't believe Wynonna never once tried to get a hold of her after her wife was attacked.

“We need to talk.” Nicole stands up from the booth and ushers Wynonna back through the kitchen door. When it’s just the two of them, Nicole turns to her. “Why didn’t you reach out to me this past year? I called and called Waverly and got no answer, which I now know is because she got a new phone number after she was attacked. But what I can’t seem to wrap my head around is why you didn’t try to contact me, Earp? I know we didn't get along and you didn't come to the wedding, but you knew we were married… you knew-”

“Listen, Red. I don't want you to think I didn't reach out to you because I didn't like you. I didn’t reach out because baby girl showed up alone in Toronto with only a suitcase and a duffel bag. She called me crying uncontrollably right before she was assaulted and all she could say was your name. As soon as she called, I closed the bar down and I was on my way to meet her, but I didn't get to her in time. I swear, I thought you two were done or something.” Wynonna sighs and looks up at Nicole with apologetic eyes. The redhead hasn’t seen that expression on Wynonna’s face in… well… ever.

“I sent her away because of the terrorist attacks in Venice. There was only room for one person on the plane, so I sent her to safety. I tried every single day to get here to her and tried every single day to call her.” Nicole rubs her forehead in exasperation. “I know how it must’ve looked, Earp, so I don’t blame you. I’m glad I have an understanding now of why you didn’t reach out.”

“I know we were never that close, Haught. You couldn’t stand that I abandoned Waverly and you had every right to hate me for that. I shouldn't have left her with him, but I was fucked up. I was never the same after our mother left and I was heavily into drugs and alcohol. Purgatory felt like a prison and I was suffocating." Wynonna wipes a tear away from her cheek. "And I pretended like I hated you, when in all reality, I hated myself. I hated myself for failing at being a big sister. I was supposed to be there for her and take care of her and I just up at left her.” Wynonna turns around and wipes at her eyes so Nicole won’t see all the tears. “I’m not who I was though. I’ve grown and I’ve changed. I am a business owner. Waverly and I are closer than ever. I hope we can leave the past in the past?” The brunette turns back around and looks at Nicole hopefully.

A hint of a smile graces Nicole’s features. “That sounds good to me. I know how important you are to her and since I assume she doesn’t know about our rocky past, it’s probably best if we just bury it and start fresh.” Nicole extends her hand to her wife’s sister. “Friends?”

Wynonna doesn’t hesitate to take the hand in hers. “Yeah sure, Haught Pocket. Friends it is.” After a firm shake, their hands drop to their sides. “So you wanna tell me about your plan?”

Nicole tilts her head in confusion. “What plan?”

“The plan to get baby girl to fall in love with you again.” Wynonna smirks at her.

“Oh yeah, that plan is in full motion right now.” Nicole chuckles as she leads them back out of the kitchen. "So you wanna tell me how you became the owner of this place?"

Wynonna just shrugs. "When you two left for Venice, I moved to Toronto. Waverly always talked about how much she loved it here and I wanted to settle down somewhere, so I chose this place. I spent a lot of my time in this bar drinking and Shorty kinda took me under his wing. He offered me a job bartending and he became like a father figure to me. Helped me get my life together and let me live in the apartment above the bar for free." Wynonna tucks her hands into her pants. “He umm died a few months back and turns out, I was all he had. He left me the bar and the apartment.”

"Wy!" Rosita pipes up before Nicole can respond. The brunette quickly slides out of the booth to get to the older Earp. Even though everyone knows Wynonna doesn't do hugs, Rosita still wraps her up in one. Nicole just slides into the booth and watches the exchange.

“Damn, babe you don't even greet me with that much enthusiasm." Chrissy chuckles at her fiancés dramatic welcoming.

“Oh, shush. I haven't seen her in a couple of weeks." Rosita squeezes the unenthusiastic brunette. "You work too much, Wy.” 

“I guess I missed you too. And well owning a bar is a lot of work." Wynonna sighs and squirms her way out of the embrace. “Your fiancé is getting jealous so you better behave yourself, Bustillos. Where’s baby girl?"

Rosita points outside and Wynonna observes her sister who is still pacing the parking lot. “The fucking boy-man?" She asks knowingly.

"Always." Chrissy rolls her eyes.

"So Nicole here was just about to tell me her plan to get my sister back in the sack.” Wynonna says and Nicole just sits there stunned. She opens her mouth, but then closes it back again. 

“Glad to see you two getting along.” Rosita looks between the two of them with a proud smile. “So what is this plan to get her back, Nicole? Do tell.”

"Who's getting who back?" Waverly asks as she enters the bar. The youngest Earp walks straight to her sister and wraps her up in a hug. Waverly is the only person that Wynonna graciously accepts hugs from. When Waverly releases her from the hug, the older brunette cradles her sister's head in her hands and plants a quick kiss to her forehead. “Hey, Nonna. Got any vegan tacos being made back there?”

“Yeah sure baby girl because you know I have this super power now that allows me to sense that you are coming to eat at Shorty's without you telling me ahead of time.” Wynonna says sarcastically and Waverly rolls her eyes playfully. Nicole is just really thankful for the change of topic. “I think I’m out of that president satan shit you like to put in your tacos anyway. Jeremy may be able to scrounge up enough ingredients to make you a vegan pizza though. So what can I get you guys?" Wynonna addresses the rest of the group as Waverly slides into the booth beside Nicole. “Actually, don’t answer that. I don’t care. I own the place, so I’ll send Robin out to take your orders since that’s what I pay him to do.” The brunette announces before walking back behind the bar

“It’s called pressed seitan, Nonna!” Waverly yells after her sister.

“That’s what I said! President satan!” The bar owner shoots a bird over her shoulder and all the girls chuckle fondly at the Earp sisters’ interaction. 

“Wave, you literally order vegan tacos every time we go out to eat.” Rosita grumbles as she slings an arm across Chrissy’s shoulders.

“Can you blame me? Tacos are tasty.” The tiny brunette shrugs and smiles widely.

 _That's my girl,_ Nicole thinks as she smiles fondly at the beautiful girl beside her.


	7. Chapter 7

When two pans of pizza, one vegan and one pepperoni, and two plates of cheese fries, finally arrive at the table, Wynonna pulls up a chair to eat with her friends and sister.

"Well if no one else is going to eat, I will." Waverly shrugs and reaches for the pan of vegan pizza. In the process, the sleeve of her shirt rolls up a bit and reveals a nasty purple and black bruise on her left wrist.

The redhead notices this and before she can stop herself, she reaches out and takes Waverly’s tan arm in her hands. She quickly rolls the sleeve up, ignoring Waverly’s protests, and inspects the bruise that seems to wrap around her slender wrist.

"Who did this, Waves? Did he do this?" Nicole’s blood boils and Waverly jerks her arm away quickly. She hastily pulls her sleeve back down and takes a sip of her drink.

"It's nothing." The brunette promises. "I just tripped."

"Wave, you don't trip and make a bruise in the shape of a handprint on your wrist." Rosita states as she scans her best friend's face for answers.

“Baby girl, is Champ hurting you?" Wynonna clenches her jaw. All four girls are scared to hear the answer, but they know they need to.

Waverly’s wide eyes shoot up to meet her sister’s and she immediately shakes her head. "I'm not doing this right now." She quickly stands up.

Rosita stands up to try to reason with her. "What about lunch, Wave?" The brunette knows the way to Waverly’s heart is through Vegan food. Everyone knows that.

"I'm not hungry anymore." Waverly throws her napkin down on the table and storms out of the bar. Wynonna stands up too, sending the chair she was sitting in skidding 5 feet behind her.

“I’m going to get peacemaker and I’m going to fucking kill that Chump.” The older Earp walks back to the kitchen. 

“Rosita, will you go make sure Wynonna doesn’t go to jail please? I’m going after my wife.” Nicole stands up and follows the tiny brunette out of the bar. Rosita nods her head and follows the Earp that’s out for blood.

When Nicole makes it out of the door, she sees her wife walking down the sidewalk. Nicole jogs to catch up to her and her heart breaks when she sees the tears clouding her favorite pair of hazel eyes.

“Hey, why don't you let me drive you home?" Nicole offers as she clutches her fists together in attempt to stop herself from reaching out and comforting the teary eyed brunette.

"It's so frustrating not being able to remember." Waverly allows the tears to fall as she stops walking. The brown-eyed girl stops alongside her, Waverly’s response catching her off guard. She racks her brain to try and come up with the right words to say to her wife, but she realizes that sometimes there simply aren't any right words. Nicole has been in these kinds of situations a lot and so she knows that sometimes what people need most is the comfort of knowing that someone is listening to what they have to say and understanding them.

"I bet it is. I can't imagine going through what you went through." Throwing restraint into the wind, Nicole reaches out and extends her hands to touch Waverly’s face. "You are so strong, Waves." She states as she uses the pads of her thumbs to wipe away the brunette’s tears. Her heart soars when she realizes that the teacher hasn’t pulled away from her.

After a couple of moments of staring into Nicole’s eyes, Waverly finally speaks up. "Do you umm have any pictures of us?" She mumbles and Nicole barely hears the request, but when the words actually register in her mind, a smile spreads across her face.

"I have a million." Nicole answers confidently as she fishes her phone from her pocket. She scrolls through her pictures, trying to decide which one she wants to show Waverly. She finally settles on showing her one of her favorite pictures of the two of them.

**Flashback**

_"I wanna do something spontaneous with you." Waverly blurts out as she comes to a stop in front of a well-known nightclub. Nicole quirks an eyebrow at her girlfriend and then follows her gaze to a sign on the nightclub marque that says 'closed for private wedding party.'_

_"Baby, don't even think about it. We have dinner reservations in a few minutes!" Nicole chastises her girlfriend._

_"Hmm free food or an expensive check?" The brunette weighs out the options with her hands, ultimately putting the free food hand way above the other one. Nicole rolls her eyes at the girl. “Plus, we are clearly dressed for a wedding reception! I’m wearing a dress and you’re wearing a sexy pantsuit. We’ll fit right in.”_

_"Waverly." Nicole groans as she checks the time on her phone. Their reservation is in 10 minutes. The two of them wanted to get all dressed up and go out to the nicest restaurant they could find, so Nicole booked reservations. “We will get caught and thrown out."_

_"These things always have way too much food and they don't know half the guests anyway." Waverly promises as she starts inching her way to the door. "If anyone asks, I'm the bride's distant cousin from California and you..." Waverly taps her chin. "you went to school with the groom."_

_Before Nicole can protest, the door swings open and a man carrying a trash bag exits. Waverly quickly stops the door from closing and cocks her head to the side with a pout on her lips, silently asking Nicole what her choice will be._

_"Fine." Nicole grumbles as she walks over to her girlfriend. "Will I ever be able to resist that charming pout of yours?"_

_"Nope. It's too cute." Waverly stands on her tip toes and captures her girlfriend's lips in her own. "I hope you brought your dancing shoes Haught because your 'friend' from high school just got married and we have some celebrating to do." The brunette smirks when she sees her girlfriend step forward and motion for her to go in. Waverly leads them both into the club. Luckily, when they get in there, all the lights are dimmed and loud music is playing._

_"Geez these people have a lot of friends." Nicole mumbles as she takes in the couple of hundred people scattered throughout the place. "I don't even know this many people."_

_"Lucky for us, huh?" Waverly rocks her eyebrows up and down playfully. "Now where's the food? I'm starved." The young brunette stands on her tip toes to scan the place and the redhead chuckles._

_The two girls spend the rest of the night eating and dancing. Only once did they have to explain who they were and lucky for them, the people who asked were tipsy enough to buy their story. A couple of hours, and many glasses of champagne later, the girls decide to call it a night. As they are walking out of the wedding reception, a man with a camera in his hands gives the girls a card._

_"So you can look at all the pictures that were taken tonight. I remember taking a few of you two. You make a really cute couple." The guy smiles warmly at them and they both thank him._

_Nicole decided then and there to always go along with Waverly’s spontaneous ideas. Even if they do seem absurd._

**End of Flashback**

After finding her favorite picture taken of them from that night, Nicole hands her phone off to Waverly. "We uh crashed a wedding reception senior year of college. It was one of the best nights of my life." The redhead narrates the picture.

Waverly’s eyes scan over the picture and she smiles. She’s wearing a floor length dress with purple and blue flowers on it and Nicole’s wearing a black pantsuit. Waverly has her arm looped through Nicole’s, a wide smile on her face. The brunette runs her fingertips over the picture fondly and starts to tear up again. She looks so genuinely happy and in love and she can't remember the last time she's felt that happy.

"We look so happy." Waverly chokes out.

"We were happy. So happy." Nicole nods.

The brunette finally hands Nicole her phone back and looks up at her. "None of this is fair to you. I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Nicole smiles gently at the brunette as she takes her phone back. "I'm okay. Don't worry about me."

"Nothing is okay, Nicole. We are married and I don't even remember you. Not to mention the fact that I'm in a relationship with someone else." Waverly wipes the tears falling from her eyes and the redhead’s heart breaks.

"I understand, but I want you to know that I'm not going anywhere, Waverly. I'll back off, but I'm still going to be around." Nicole informs the girl.

Waverly smiles sadly through her tears. "I wouldn't hate you if you left. I would understand."

"I would hate me if I left." Nicole counters. "For better or worse. I made that promise to you two years ago and I intend to keep it."

Waverly nods as she wipes the fresh tears from her face. "Do you uh mind taking me home?"

"Not at all." Nicole pipes up as she leads the two of them back to her car. The car ride to the apartment is silent and Nicole is okay with that. Silence between the two of them has never been awkward and she understands that Waverly is having to process a lot of information.

When they arrive, the redhead walks her wife to her apartment. The one conveniently situated right in front of her new apartment. Rosita sent Nicole a text after they left the bar saying that she already called and told them that Nicole wanted it and all she had to do was sign a lease. The fiery brunette was quickly becoming one of Nicole’s favorite people.

"How did we get separated?" Waverly asks as they come to a stop in front of her apartment.

"We lived in Venice and there were bombings there a year ago. You may have seen them on the news or heard about them. When the city was threatened, I immediately got you out of there and put you on a plane to here. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room on the plane for me." Nicole explains, the memory of that day still making her heart ache. "I tried to get back to you, but the airport and other ports around the city were hit and it took a year to rebuild them and get new planes and transportation."

Waverly nods in understanding. "I do remember seeing the aftermath on television." Her eyes widen momentarily when a thought crosses her mind. "I can't believe I lived in Italy."

"You temporarily lived there for 4 months and then we resided there for two years." Nicole smiles.

"Temporarily?" The brunette asks.

"Yeah. We both studied abroad there our junior year of college. Both of our majors dealt with the arts and well Venice is the best study abroad place for that." Nicole explains. "That's how we met actually. We fell in love there. With the city and with each other. So when we graduated from the University of Toronto, we both decided to go back and start our lives there." Nicole conveniently leaves out the part that the brunette’s father played in them moving to Venice. That isn't her story to tell though and if Waverly ever finds out, Nicole wants it to be from Wynonna and not her.

"What did I do there?" Waverly asks eagerly.

"You taught music and did some writing on the side." Nicole chuckles when her wife’s eyes widen.

"I was a music teacher?" Waverly whispers to herself.

“The greatest music teacher. Although I’m a bit biased.” Nicole smiles, her dimples on full display.

“What did you do?” The brunette inquires.

“I did a lot of painting and eventually opened up my own art gallery. Art is my passion.” Nicole explains with a slight shrug.

“I bet your art is beautiful.” Waverly whispers and the redhead’s heart swells. “Well thank you for playing 20 questions with me tonight." The brunette chuckles and ducks her head. "Also thank you for putting me on the plane, Nicole." She picks at a string hanging from her shirt nervously. "I wish you could've used the ticket though."

Nicole hooks a finger under Waverly’s chin and raises her head. “Hey, look at me." She coaxes and when the brunette finally looks up, she continues. "If I had to do it all over again, if I had to do it tomorrow, I'd still choose your safety over mine." Nicole looks deeply into the hazel eyes in front of her.

Waverly blushes for the millionth time today. She's honestly speechless and she surprises even herself. The brunette is usually always the one to talk and know what to say, but something about the chocolate eyes in front of her just leave her completely speechless and flustered. The teacher settles on giving the girl in front of her a bashful nod.

"And I just want to apologize in advance if I accidentally grab your hand or reach out to get something off your face when you're eating." Nicole rocks back and forth on her heels. "I'm going to try my best to keep this..." She gestures between the two of them "platonic. But you were mine for 4 years, so it'll take some getting used to."

Waverly smiles fondly at the nervous redhead in front of her. She's mainly just glad she's not the only one who is nervous right now. "I understand, Nicole. I won't get mad if you do those things. I get it." She sends a reassuring smile her way.

Nicole returns it immediately. The brunette’s smile always had a knack for being quite contagious. "Good. Well I guess I'll be seeing you then." Nicole offers a small wave even though every muscle in her body is screaming at her to take Waverly into her arms.

The tiny brunette offers a small wave before turning on her heels and walking into her apartment. Nicole waits by the door until she hears the lock click and then she descends back down the stairs and goes to the front office to sign her lease. Being a couple of steps away from Waverly is better than being a half a world away from her. It's the small victories that Nicole is learning to love the most.


	8. Chapter 8

Nicole puts the finishing touches on her make up and slides on her black pantsuit. Today, she has a job interview for an Arts Instructor position at The University of Toronto. One of her art friends from Venice mentioned that she had a friend in the area that worked at the college and last night she called Nicole to tell her that she has a job interview at 5 pm.

After applying a light shade of lipstick and fixing a few stray hairs, the artist grabs her car keys and heads to the door. She turns off her music and finds herself humming the last song that was playing while she was getting ready.

"All the heads keep turning in my mind like parachutes. My heart's still burning over you…” The redhead sings as she exits her apartment and turns around to lock the door. "No I'll never get over you." She abruptly stops singing when she turns around and comes face to face with an amused Waverly. A blush rises up to settle on the her cheeks.

“Fleurie, huh?” The brunette smirks as she slings her guitar case on her back.

“Hell of a singer." Nicole comments, praying her face isn't as red as it feels.

"Agreed." Waverly smiles softly. "So where are you headed, business woman?" Hazel eyes scan the beautiful girl in front of them.

"Job interview." The redhead smiles while tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Guess you are headed to a gig?" Nicole points to the guitar case sitting on the former teacher's back.

"Yep and I probably should go. Don't want to keep the fans waiting." The brunette chuckles as she sends Nicole a quick wink and starts to descend down the stairs. The redhead laughs and follows her wife down the stairs.

"See ya, Nicole." Waverly waves when they hit the bottom of the stairs and Nicole frowns when she notices that the tiny brunette is walking away from the parking lot.

"Are you walking there?" Nicole blurts out before Waverly can take another step away from her.

The brunette turns around. "Yeah." She sighs. "The medical bills after the attack were fairly expensive and I just got them all paid off a couple of months ago. I guess a car has been the last thing on my mind." She shrugs. "Rosita usually drives me anywhere I want to go, but she's at work and the bar is only a mile away so I just walk."

The young teacher looks so small to Nicole in the moment and all the brown-eyed girl wants to do is scoop her up in her arms and protect her from the world. She knows she can't do that, so she brings her hand up to fiddle with the wedding band around her neck. Waverly’s eyes fall to where Nicole is toying with the ring around her neck.

"Is that um..." The young brunette points to the round piece of jewelry.

"Yeah." Nicole breathes out. "It was... well _is_ yours."

"Oh." Is all the musician mutters. Waverly never knew something so little could be strong enough to send the muscle in her chest all the way to her stomach.

Nicole scratches the back of her neck, unsure of what to say as well. She has a lot to say, actually, but Waverly wouldn't be comfortable hearing it. Not yet anyway. Nicole despises awkwardness so she quickly tries to relieve some of it. She bows down and extends her hand to the girl in front of her. The brunette quirks an eyebrow up at the redhead’s weird gesture, but doesn't say anything. "May I be your chauffeur for the day, Ms. Waverly?" Nicole tries out an accent and it’s a mix between a Southern and British one and it has Waverly doubling over in laughter. When she finally composes herself, she sees that Nicole is still bowed down dramatically.

Rolling her eyes playfully, Waverly slides her hand in Nicole’s and tries to mimic the weird accent the redhead just did. "I would be delighted if you would." Nicole just shakes her head in amusement as she escorts Waverly to the Jeep, relishing in the feeling of the girl’s hand in hers again. After the two get settled in the car, Nicole plugs in her phone and hands it over to Waverly so she can DJ.

Nicole could almost guess which songs Waverly would pick. She fights back a smile as she listens to the girl belt out each song. The brunette uses her right fist as a microphone each time she sings the chorus and Nicole finds it extremely endearing and quite amusing.

The brown-eyed girl brings the car to a stop outside the bar and a frown washes over Waverly’s features briefly when she sees that they are already at her place of work.

"You give me a ride and I repay you by practically busting your eardrums... and your speakers." Waverly chuckles. "Sorry about that." She smiles sheepishly at the driver of the car.

"You never have to repay me for giving you a ride and you can bust my speakers and my eardrums anytime you want." Nicole laughs as her wife slides out of the car and leans down in front of it, propping her elbows on the open window so she can make eye contact with the redhead.

"Goodluck at the interview. I hope I didn't make you late." Waverly pats the car once and starts walking backwards toward the entrance of the bar, her eyes still locked with Nicole’s. "Thanks again for the ride."

The redhead waves and waits until Waverly enters the bar. When the door closes, she quickly glances at the clock and sees that it is only 4:30 pm. She mentally high fives herself for her smart decision to leave the apartment an hour early.

The interview goes fairly well, considering that she is hired on the spot. The woman who interviews her is very pleased with Nicole’s resume and mentions that their mutual friend put in a good word for for the brown-eyed girl.

After the interview, she decides to make her way to the bar, in hopes that Waverly’s set hasn't ended. As soon as she enters the dimly lit place, her ears are immediately graced with the sweet voice that gave her a private concert only a few hours ago. Nicole’s heart flutters when she hears that Waverly is singing the bridge of “Wildwood.” She wonders if the song was on her set list before their encounter this morning or if it was added after. Nicole hopes it's the latter.

The redhead plops down on a bar stool and informs the bartender that she wants a whiskey neat. As soon as he hands her the drink, Waverly starts strumming a different tune.

"This is an original." The brunette informs the bar patrons.

_Where did you come from?_   
_Are you for real?_   
_My heart, it was so numb_   
_But now I can feel_   
_It feels like I'm fallin'_   
_And I don't know where_   
_But I'm spinning with you, love_   
_So I don't even care_

After Nicole gets her drink and takes a sip, she places the glass down and spins around on her stool to give her wife her undivided attention for the rest of the song.

_Stalling, falling_  
_Calling, all in_  
_Stalling, falling_  
_Calling, all in_

Waverly looks up and allows her eyes to roam the crowded bar. Her breath hitches when she sees a pair of brown eyes staring back at her. She allows her mind to drift for a second as she wonders if her writing about love stemmed from Nicole, from her past with the girl. No, she couldn't remember the redhead who is currently watching her from across the bar, but maybe she had such a huge impact on her that no man could beat the memories of the brown-eyed girl out of her head, no matter how hard they tried.

_It all came easy  
When I laid eyes on you  
The music was loud, you stood out in the crowd  
And I felt something new  
You had your heart broken  
Not too long before  
You were feeling so low, didn't know where to go  
You wanted something more_

Nicole can't help but wonder who Waverly writes all of her songs about. However, she’s broken from her thoughts when she notices her wife walking her way. As soon as she makes it over to her, she immediately points to the drink in Nicole’s hand when the bartender walks up to them.

“I’ll have what she’s having, Jer.” The hazel-eyed girl addresses the bartender. “Is Nonna in?”

“Comin’ right up, Wave.” The man replies and Waverly gives him a wide smile. “And no she’s out with her detective boyfriend. Still can’t believe Wynonna is dating someone who works in law enforcement.” He snorts before walking off. Waverly turns her attention to Nicole and smiles widely at her.

However, before either of them can strike up a conversation, a body collides with the table behind Nicole, effectively knocking it and all of it's contents over. This startles both of the girls and the redhead turns to watch as another man crouches down next to the man laying on the floor and quickly grabs a fistful of his shirt to bring him to a sitting position. When he does, he collides his fist with the man's jaw. After the third punch is thrown and another bartender finally pries the man off of the bleeding man on the floor, Nicole turns back around to see Waverly’s reaction.

She curses herself when the brunette is no longer beside her. Of course something like this would set off a panic attack within the fragile girl. Nicole frantically turns back to the bar and locks eyes with the bartender that was talking with her wife a few minutes ago. He points to the back door, understanding the silent question that Nicole’s asking him with her eyes. She immediately takes off to the back door and swings it open. Her heart breaks when she sees Waverly curled up in a ball with her back against the brick wall of the bar. Nicole slowly steps forward, Waverly’s sobs becoming more apparent the closer she gets to her. The brown-eyed girl slowly crouches down in front of the brunette, careful not to startle her.

"Waves." She whispers. The girl slowly raises her head and locks eyes with Nicole’s sympathetic ones. Her breathing is still ragged and her eyes are wide. The redhead reaches her right hand up and places it on Waverly’s tear stained cheek. "Slow breaths, baby." Nicole slows down her own breathing in attempt to get Waverly to follow her lead. Nicole watches as she struggles to slow it down, but after about a minute of the redhead coaching her, Waverly’s breathing finally returns to normal and her tears subside. The brown-eyed girl slowly brings her left hand up and when it comes to rest on the brunette’s other cheek, she uses both of her thumbs to wipe tears away. "You're safe. You're okay." Nicole cooes. Waverly nods and offers the redhead a small, grateful smile. Nicole stands up and for the second time today, she offers Waverly her hand to take. The brunette accepts and allows Nicole to pull her to her feet. The brown-eyed girl's hand reflexively lands on her wife’s lower back as she leads them both back into the bar.

Once they return to their previous spot, Nicole notices a familiar boy sitting on the bar stool. Waverly stops in her tracks and the redhead feels the girl tense up. Nicole drops her hand to her side and protectively takes a small step in front of Waverly just as Champ turns to face them.

"What's wrong with you?" Champ asks as he takes in Waverly’s disheveled appearance.

The brunette looks down at her feet. "I had another uh panic attack." She mumbles.

"Seriously? It's been a year, Waverly. I can't believe you are still having those." Champ rolls his eyes and takes a sip of his beer. Nicole has to restrain herself from beating this asshole to a pulp. The only thing stopping her is her wife's well-being. Waverly comes first. She always has.

"Yeah I know. I'm sorry, Champ." She whispers as she takes another step to stand closer to him. Nicole wants nothing more than to just pull Waverly away from him and tell her a million times over that she has nothing to be sorry for. She wants to drive her away from here, from him. Unfortunately, she has to just stand there because that's all she can do. Right now, anyway.

"It's okay. I just wanted you to be in a semi good mood tonight when we bang, but I guess that's out of the question, huh?" He chuckles bitterly as he downs the rest of his beer and stands to his feet. Waverly just stands there, her eyes trained on the floor beneath her. The shame and embarrassment she feels rendering her completely speechless. Nicole can feel her body trembling with anger and she clenches her fists tightly. She feels blood trickling from her palms, but the pain she feels in her chest far outweighs the pain she is unconsciously inflicting upon herself.

Champ slaps a five dollar bill on the counter and grabs Waverly’s forearm. Nicole’s eyes narrow in on the grip and she realizes that he is gripping her on the exact part of her arm that the redhead inspected yesterday. The same part that is discolored from the previous times that he has forcefully grabbed her.

Waverly shrugs him off. "I uh had plans with Nicole tonight. We were going to grab food after my set." She trains her eyes on Nicole, pleading for her to follow along. Nicole is caught off guard, but she nods.

"Yeah that's not happening. C'mon." He jerks her again.

"She said she has other plans." Nicole speaks up and steps forward, her shoulder lightly brushing Waverly’s.

"Do you have a problem." Champ steps forward and gets in Nicole’s face. "You need to butt out of my relationship."

Waverly’s heart races when she thinks about Champ hurting Nicole. He has a temper and she doesn't want the whole bar to see it. Especially Nicole. She doesn't want her to see it or feel the repercussions of it. So she does what she has to do. Even though its not necessarily what she wants to do.

"Champ." She places her hand on his shoulder. "I'll go with you. Just calm down."

Nicole’s eyes flicker from Champ to Waverly, silently pleading for her not to go with him. Waverly looks away from the brown eyes because she knows if she looks at them a second longer that they will convince her to stay.

"Maybe we can go get food another time." Waverly offers Nicole a small smile. The brunette just hopes it looks more reassuring than it feels. The redhead just nods and runs her fingers through her hair. "I'll be seeing ya, Nic." The musician finally surrenders to Champ and lets him take her away from the brown eyes that are still pleading for her to stay. The brown eyes that she could write a million songs about.


	9. Chapter 9

The next day, Nicole hears a knock at her door and she groans before pressing pause on the show she's watching on Hulu. She is tempted to pretend she isn't home so she can continue to binge watch Killing Eve, but the possibility that it could be Waverly makes her stand up and walk to the door. She swings the door open to find Rosita standing there, clad in a swimsuit coverup with an oversized sunhat on her head. When the door opens all the way, the brunette barges in.

"Go get on your swimsuit, dude. We are going to the beach." Rosita announces as she looks around Nicole’s bare apartment. The brown-eyed girl still has not gotten around to buying much for her new place. Luckily, the apartment came furnished with a couch and a bed or else she would have been sleeping on the floor.

"I was actually just going to be lazy today and watch some tv." Nicole pouts as she sits back down on the couch and folds her legs under her.

"Okay, well Wave is going and she will be in a bikini." Rosita shrugs. "It's a skimpy little black one that I'm sure will get everyone's attention at the beach and I'm not really in the mood to help her fend off all the guys and gals."

Nicole jumps up from the couch. "On second thought, it is a pretty day today, so let me just go get on my bathing suit." She scrambles to her room. "I'll be ready in 10!" The redhead yells back over her shoulder and Rosita just chuckles.

As soon as all three girls are in Nicole’s car, they head to pick up Chrissy and Wynonna before they make the drive to the nearest beach. When they arrive, Rosita eagerly slides out of the car with Chrissy in tow. Waverly lightly chuckles and follows suit, Nicole on her heels.

After setting their stuff down on the beach, Rosita turns to all four of the girls. "Who wants to swim?"

"I do, but I have to put on some sunscreen first." Waverly responds while laying out her beach towel. "Come to think of it, Rosi, I don't remember seeing you put any on." Waverly raises an eyebrow and the brunette scoffs.

"I'm a golden goddess." Rosita brushes her hair over her shoulder dramatically. "I don't burn. I only tan... But I do get hot." She sets her sunhat on her beach bag and takes off running toward the water. "Last one to the ocean has to buy lunch!"

Chrissy and Wynonna chuckle and then look over at each other for a beat before taking off toward the water after Rosita. Neither one of them wants to pay for lunch.

"Such children." Waverly shakes her head, an amused smile on her face. Before Nicole can reply, the brunette unzips her pants and slides them down her toned legs. She then grabs the hem of her shirt and lifts it over her head. Nicole allows herself to drink in her wife's beautiful body. It's been over a year since she last saw this much of Waverly; hence the reason she cannot take her eyes off of the girl. She watches as her wife pulls out a bottle of sunscreen and starts rubbing the white liquid on her body. The brown-eyed girl's mouth goes dry as she watches her wife run her hands all over her own body. Nicole is thankful for the sunglasses covering her eyes so it isn't completely obvious that she is gawking. The artist could have sworn it just got about 10 degrees hotter out here. 

Thanks to Waverly. 

Nicole starts to subtly fan herself with her book as she watches Waverly’s hands run across her chest. Just when she thinks she can't get any more turned on, her wife speaks up. “Nicole, would you uh mind putting some sunscreen on my back?" Waverly addresses the redhead. After a couple of seconds, Nicole realizes she's still staring and that she hasn't answered the girl yet, so she clears her throat and and sets her book down on her towel.

“Y-Yeah sure." Nicole stutters as she eagerly scrambles to her feet.

"Thanks." Waverly offers her a shy smile before laying stomach down on her beach towel that has animated tacos all over it. Nicole squirts a handful of the liquid into her palm and then momentarily rubs her hands together to warm the sunscreen up a bit so it's not too cold when she rubs it on the brunette’s back. She kneels down beside her and places her trembling hands on the soft skin. Carefully, she rubs the sunscreen all over Waverly’s back. The brunette sucks in a breath when Nicole’s hands land on her back. Suddenly her whole body feels like it has been set afire. She flutters her eyes closed, reveling in how good it feels to have someone touch her so tenderly. Nicole’s skin is also burning as she runs her hands all over her wife’s back.

After applying the sunscreen to every crevice of Waverly’s back, the redhead stands up and Waverly frowns at the loss of contact. Part of her wants to go wash it all off just so Nicole can reapply it. "I'm going to um wash my hands off." Nicole clears her throat and starts walking to the ocean. When she reaches the blue water, she wades in knee deep and bends over to start washing her hands off. Before she can stand back up, she is tackled into the cool water. When she raises up again, she comes face to face with a laughing Waverly. Nicole playfully narrows her eyes at the girl.

"Thought you needed to cool off a bit." The brunette states as she chuckles at the drenched girl before her.

"Oh you think this is funny, huh?" Nicole challenges, one eyebrow quirked up. Waverly brings her right hand up and puts a small space between her thumb and pointer finger while mouthing _a little._

Nicole smirks and starts walking toward her slowly. When the brunette notices, she starts to retreat back to the shore. Before she can reach it, Nicole slings both arms around her waist and walks back to the waves with Waverly in tow.

“Nicole, I'm sorry!" Waverly squeals and kicks her feet in the air.

"You're gonna be." The brown-eyed girl whispers in her wife’s ear before throwing herself in the water with her girl still in her arms. After a couple of seconds, she raises them both back up. The brunette wriggles free from Nicole’s grasp and turns to face her. They are both laughing uncontrollably and staring into each other's eyes. Eventually, the laughter dies down, but the staring doesn't. Like magnets, the two draw closer and closer until they both can almost feel other's breaths on their own lips. Before one of them can close the gap, Wynonna speaks up.

"Haught damn, you two are soaking wet!" The older Earp smirks as she wades over. Nicole narrows her eyes at the girl for ruining the moment and for the double meaning behind her choice of words. Waverly turns around to face her sister. Nicole tries to say her witty comeback, but is once again submerged under water.

"Earp!" Nicole yells when she reemerges from the water.

The brunette shrugs as Rosita and Chrissy wade over as well. "You looked like you were getting a little too hot and bothered, Haught Wheels. Someone needed to cool you off." Nicole immediately blushes and slicks her hair back. She quickly looks around for Waverly to see her reaction to what her sister just said, but she is no longer beside them. She notices her exiting the water and Nicole watches as she walks past their beach towels. This concerns the brown-eyed girl, so she quickly exits the water and follows her wife. Before she can get to her, Waverly starts walking back in her direction with something in her arms.

"Nic, look!" The two finally meet in the middle and Nicole can see that the girl's eyes are lit up. "I found a puppy."

Nicole’s heart almost explodes because one, Waverly called her Nic, an old nickname she had given her when they started dating back in college and two, her wife cuddling a puppy has to be the cutest thing she's ever seen.

"Hi there." Nicole bends down to get eye level with the puppy. It has a brown coat and it looks like a chocolate lab. She brings her hand up to pet the puppy and it is then she notices how malnourished the puppy looks. She frowns and then notices that it doesn't have a collar.

"She-" Waverly starts and then pauses, momentarily raising the puppy over her head " _he_ looks hungry." The young musician frowns for a second and then her eyes light up when she thinks of an idea. She quickly scurries back to where their towels are set up and digs in her bag. She pulls out a banana and starts breaking it into little pieces and feeding it to the eager puppy in her lap. Nicole watches in adoration as the little thing practically inhales the banana.

"He really seems to love bananas." Nicole smiles as she watches Waverly feed him another piece of the fruit.

Wynonna, Chrissy, and Rosita walk over a few minutes later and they all ooh and ahh over the adorable little thing. Waverly watches as Rosita cuddles the puppy and another brilliant idea hits her.

"Rosi?" Waverly looks at her best friend, her eyes big and questioning. Having been friends with the brunette for most of her life, Rosita knows exactly what she wants.

"Nope. Not happening. You can go ahead and put those puppy dog eyes away." Rosita waves her hand dismissively in front of her. "I can barely take care of myself and our apartment."

Waverly’s eyes grow sad and Rosita may can say no to those sad hazel eyes, but Nicole never could resist them.

"I'll take him." Nicole announces and Waverly perks up.

"You will?" The brunette smiles, her eyes crinkling.

"On one condition." Nicole holds up her pointer finger.

"Anything." Waverly blurts out and the other four girls laugh at her eagerness. Nicole could have sworn she heard Rosita whisper something inappropriate and Wynonna snort, but she's too focused on her wife to chastise them.

"You help me take care of him and you name him." Nicole smiles when she watches her wife's eyes light up again.

"Duh." Waverly blurts out.

Wynonna places her hand over her chest dramatically. “My sass is rubbing off on her. I'm proud." Everyone rolls their eyes.

"So is that a yes?" Nicole nudges the brunette’s shoulder with her own.

"Yes! A million times yes!" Waverly claps her hands together happily and leans over to plant a quick kiss on Nicole’s cheek before crawling over to sit by Rosita so she can pet the puppy. A jolt of electricity shoots through the redhead and she blushes furiously.

Rosita, not even bothering to wipe her smirk off her face, speaks up. "So this little guy needs a name." She continues to pet him. "I personally like Rosita Jr."

Chrissy snorts and kisses Rosita’s temple. "Of course you do."

"I am not naming my first dog Rosita Jr." Waverly takes the dog back into her arms. "Save that name for your first child."

Chrissy swats Waverly’s arm and glares at her. "Don't give her any ideas." The musician just laughs when Rosita places her hand back on her chest, an pretend offended look on her features.

Waverly turns to Nicole with curious eyes. “What’s this beach called again?”

“Clarke Beach I think.” She answers nonchalantly.

"Clarke." The young brunette tries the name out on her tongue as she stares at the puppy in her lap. "He kind of looks like a Clarke." A small smile graces her lips.

“You want to name him after the beach?” Nicole questions.

“I mean we found him here so I think it’s perfect.” Waverly slowly stands up with the puppy in her arms. "This little guy is tired and probably thirsty so we should get him home." She looks at Nicole and the redhead nods in agreement. Nicole gives Waverly the keys to her car and tells her to go ahead and get settled in while she gets their bags. Chrissy and Wynonna follow her and Nicole watches fondly as the older Earp drapes an arm across her sister’s shoulders and pulls her in close as they walk. Rosita, however, stays back with the brown-eyed girl to help her carry everything.

“You two now have a puppy together… my ship is sailing.” Rosita speaks up as the two make their way back to the parking lot, beach bags in tow. Nicole playfully pushes the brunette before making her way to her car. A small smile forms on her lips when she sees her favorite girl holding their new puppy.

While everyone is getting settled in, Nicole takes a moment to lean over and pet the puppy that’s currently asleep in Waverly’s arms. “Clarke and Waverly. What a duo."

"Trio." Waverly interjects. "We are in this together." She smiles briefly at Nicole and then looks at the sleeping puppy in her arms like it's the most precious thing in the world. Nicole smiles too because she is very familiar with that look.

It's the same one she is giving Waverly right now.


	10. Chapter 10

"Alright boy, I have to go to work, but I'll be back this afternoon." Nicole promises as she picks up the puppy. She momentarily snuggles him to her before setting him back down and refilling his food and water bowls. The redhead smiles as she watches him saunter over to his paw-print patterned bed and lay his head on his front paws.

With a smile on her face and a cup of coffee in her hand, the redhead makes her way out the door and heads to her new job. When she arrives, she is immediately shown to her new classroom. Her eyes light up when she stands in front of the black door wearing a name plate that has _Mrs. Earp-Haught_ etched on it. When she enters the room that now belongs to her, she allows her eyes to scan over everything inch of it. There are 20 chairs and a painting easel in front of each one. Blank canvasses and bottles of paint occupy the wooden shelves at the back of the room.

Her morning goes by relatively fast. She teaches two art classes in the morning and one after lunch. After teaching the second class, she grabs her purse and heads to the door to go get lunch. During her tour of the school this morning, her boss informed her that she could in fact leave for lunch and then come back if she wanted. Though that is what she is doing today, she vowed to herself that she would start bringing her lunch from home most days because eating out can be bad for you if it's done too often.

When she steps out of her new room, she comes face to face with an unfamiliar man with brown hair and glasses.

"You must be Ms. Haught." He speaks up before Nicole can get a word out.

"Yes, I am Mrs. Earp-Haught.” The new art teacher corrects the stranger politely.

The brown-headed man offers a tight smile before extending his hand to the redhead. "I'm Tucker. I teach graphic design."

Nicole takes the awaiting hand in hers. "Nicole. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you." The man grins while not so subtly checking out the redhead.

Nicole clears her throat awkwardly. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going for-"

"Damn." Tucker interrupts, biting his lip as she looks past a confused and slightly annoyed Nicole. "Brunettes are my favorite."

Nicole furrows her eyebrows before spinning around to see what the man is looking at. Her eyes widen when she sees Waverly and Rosita walking toward her, a sack and drink in tow. Nicole smiles, Tucker’s remarks leaving her mind when she locks eyes with the hazel eyes that are thankfully drawing closer to her.

"Beautiful." Tucker speaks up again and Nicole looks over at the man ogling her wife. She just huffs and closes the gap between her and the two girls.

"Waves, hey." Nicole breathes out when she finds herself standing right in front of the brunette.

"Hey, Nic." Waverly smiles at the brown-eyed girl. "We uh brought you lunch since it's your first day and all." She extends the sack and drink to the redhead before tucking her hands in her back pockets. Nicole takes them and offers her a grateful smile.

"You're the best." Nicole mumbles as she digs through the paper sack. Burger and fries. Her favorite.

"The nerve." Rosita scoffs after having witnessed the entire interaction. "I drove her ass through the drive thru and then drove her ass here and I don't even get a thank you."

"Rosi." Waverly slaps her friend on the arm. “Leave my ass out of this.” She whispers through her teeth.

Nicole chuckles at the two best friends, but stops abruptly when Waverly playfully narrows her eyes at her.

"Your ass is quite perfect if you ask me." Tucker pipes up as he takes a step closer to the shorter brunette. "Tucker." The man extends his hand and Waverly timidly shakes it.

"Waverly." She shyly ducks her head.

"Pretty name for a pretty girl." Tucker winks.

The redhead clears her throat loudly. She has had enough of the man flirting with her wife. "You guys gonna stay and eat?" Nicole asks hopefully.

"I would, but I have to rehearse for my gig tonight." Waverly frowns. "I'm singing a new song I wrote."

"Can't wait to hear it." Nicole smiles fondly and it widens when the musician's eyes light up.

"Are you coming?" She asks excitedly.

"Wouldn't miss it." Nicole promises.

“Great, see ya then. Enjoy the food." Waverly nods her head and then turns and walks back to the door.

"Waverly!" Nicole calls out before handing Rosita her drink and sack to hold while she removes her lanyard from around her neck and takes a silver key off. "Clarke misses you." She walks up to the hazel-eyed girl and hands her the key to her apartment.

"Thank god, I thought you'd never offer it up." Waverly takes the key and smirks at Nicole.

The brown-eyed girl rolls her eyes playfully. "Waverly Earp, was this lunch your way of bribing me so I would give you the key to my apartment so you could see Clarke?" Nicole feigns shock.

"So what if it was, Haught?" Waverly starts back peddling toward the exit, the smirk still present on her face. "It worked, didn't it?"

Nicole shakes her head, her dimples on full display. Waverly offers her a wink before turning around and exiting the building.

"You two." Rosita shakes her head while handing Nicole’s drink and food back to her. "You got it bad, dude." She pats the brown-eyed girl on the shoulder before following Waverly.

"Rosita." Nicole yells and the girl turns around. "Drive safe, okay?"

_You have my entire world in your hands,_ Nicole wanted to add in.

"I'll keep her safe, Nicole." Rosita smiles knowingly at the new teacher.

"Is she seeing anyone?" Tucker chimes in after both girls have left.

“Who? Rosita?" Nicole turns to face her new flirty colleague.

"No. Waverly." He asks, his eyes still locked on the door that her wife exited from.

"Yeah, she's off limits." Nicole informs the man before walking into her classroom. She may kill the guy if she stands there any longer.

"That's never stopped me before." Tucker says right before Nicole shuts her classroom door. The art teacher grips the drink in her hand so tightly that the lid pops off. She decides to set the drink down on her desk before she can damage it any more. After she gets some food in her, the rage caused by her brown-headed colleague leaves and she finally allows herself to smile again when she thinks about the fact that Waverly brought her lunch. That smile doesn't fade for the rest of the day.

After teaching her last class of the day, the redhead heads home to change and play with Clarke. A couple of hours and an outfit change later, she gets in her Jeep and heads to hear her favorite musician. When she gets to the bar, she sits down at her favorite spot and Jeremy sets her usual down on the bar in front of her. She offers him a grateful smile and then turns around to give her full attention to the brunette who just stepped onto the makeshift stage at the back of the bar. As usual, Waverly starts off by covering a few of her favorite songs by some of her favorite artists. Finally, she introduces her original song and Nicole’s heart starts beating faster.

"This is an original." Waverly informs the audience before turning her attention back to the guitar sitting in her lap. "As many of you know, I was in an accident about a year ago and I lost most of my memory. I recently found these lyrics and music tucked away in an old bag of mine and I didn't remember the song, so I realized that I wrote it before my accident." She continues to strum the guitar. "I hope you like it."

_It's been awhile since I felt this way_   
_It's been awhile since I've felt_   
_You got this way about you, you got this way about you, you got this way about you_   
_You, you make me melt_

_Those eyes are browner than the trees that give me oxygen to breathe_   
_Yet leave me breathless_   
_You make me feel a way inside that reminds me of the tide_   
_Swept away_

Nicole’s heart beats faster with every word that Waverly sings. Her wife has always had a way with words and Nicole knows that if she wrote this before her accident, that there's a chance that she could've written it about her. The redhead’s thoughts are interrupted when she hears the chimes on the door ding, signaling that someone has entered. She momentarily looks over and then turns her attention back to Waverly. That doesn't last long because as soon as her mind registers who just entered the bar, she whips her head back to the entrance. Rage washes over her and she walks over to the man standing by the door.

_My blood is pumping heart is thumping_   
_Is this all a dream?_   
_Our bodies bumping hips are jumping_   
_Is this all a dream?_

_Like the smoke from my puff, I don't mind if you hang around_   
_Though when it clears I must admit I feel turned around and around and around_   
_I'm self proclaimed damaged goods babe_   
_I'm not looking to leave that fire_   
_So come with the green and in more ways than one I can take you higher_

As she's walking toward the door, everyone in the bar starts clapping as Waverly’s song comes to an end.

"Nicole." The man breathes out as the brown-eyed girl approaches him. "What are you doing here?"

"Not here." Nicole points to the door and the man exits again, the redhead following close behind.

“What the fuck are you doing here?!" Nicole yells as soon as the door closes. She decides to just cut right to the chase.

“Nicole, I know I wasn’t there for her when she was growing up, but I’ve changed. I moved to Toronto as soon as I heard about Waverly’s attack. I quit drinking, I started going to AA meetings, and I’ve been trying to mend my relationship with my girls since I moved back.” Ward runs his fingers through his hair.

“I don’t trust you with her.” Nicole pinches the bridge of her nose. “I swear to god if you hurt her again I’ll…”

“ _We’ll_ kill you.” Wynonna chimes in and Nicole turns around to see the brunette leaning against the side of the bar. 

“Why didn’t you tell me he was back in the picture?” Nicole narrows her eyes at the bar owner.

“We haven’t had a chance to really catch up on the past year, Red. I wasn’t actively trying to keep it from you. I promise.” The brunette pushes off the side of the wall and walks to where the two of them are standing.

“So what, now you approve of your daughter’s sexuality? You sure didn’t a few years ago when you kicked her out of her house when you found out she was dating me!” Nicole crosses her arms and narrows her eyes at the man.

"I thought you were out of the picture for good when she started bringing Champ around. I thought she was straight again.” He speaks up.

“You what now?”

“What in the fuck is wrong with you?”

Wynonna and Nicole yell at the same time.

“The day he found out she was gay, he gave her an ultimatum. When she chose me, he kicked her out.” Nicole turns to look at Wynonna.

“Fuck.” The oldest Earp pinches the bridge of her nose. “She had no family. I was gone and her only parent told her she wasn’t allowed in her childhood home just because she was in love with a woman.”

“She had family, Wynonna.” Nicole replies. “She had me.”

“You kicked me out for being gay?” All three heads turn in the direction of the side door. Waverly steps forward, an unreadable expression sketched across her beautiful features.

"Waverly." Ward steps forward.

“Please just go.” The brunette looks everywhere but at the man in front of her. 

“I’ve changed I promise…” The man tries to reason with his daughter. 

“She needs some time, Ward. C’mon, I’ll buy you a Coke.” The bar owner ushers the man back to the side door of the bar. Once they are out of sight, Waverly turns to Nicole. She offers her a sad smile before reaching up and wiping the brown-eyed girl's tears away. Nicole didn’t even realize she was crying until she feels soft thumbs rubbing tenderly across her cheeks. She offers the brunette a shaky smile in return, silently thanking her for drying her tears. When Waverly is finished, she drops her hands from the redhead's face and takes Nicole's hands in her own.

“Can you uh tell me what exactly happened? I'm guessing there was a falling out of some sort." Waverly asks and Nicole takes a breath before explaining the situation to the curious brunette in front of her.

**Flashback**

_"I miss you." Waverly pouts into the phone._

_"Baby, I literally just dropped you off like 10 minutes ago." Nicole chuckles._

_"I know, but I already miss you. Sue me.” Waverly retorts playfully. “Ugh I’m so ready for this break to end so we can be back at college and see each other more.”_

_“Well I never left, but you need to spend some time with your hometown friends and maybe your father. I know how important that is to you, but I miss you too. So much.” Nicole admits, a small smile gracing her lips._

_"You better, Haught.” Waverly answers. Before one of them can respond, they both hear a loud voice coming from outside Waverly’s door._

_"Waverly!" Ward yells before bursting into the room. “I had several calls today from friends of mine and they said they saw you walking around town earlier holding hands with and kissing a girl. Is this true?”_

_Waverly’s face pales and she grips the phone in her hand tighter. “I’m gay, daddy. They saw me with my girlfriend. Her name is Nicole.”_

_"You will stop seeing this girl right now! No daughter of mine is going to be gay!” Ward shouts and Waverly flinches at his harsh tone._

_"It's my life and I'm not going to stop seeing her. I love her. If you got to know her you’d love-” Waverly tries to finish her sentence, but Ward interrupts her._

_"Either you end it or you get out of my house." He points to the door._

_“Daddy, please just listen..." Waverly begs as she stands up from the bed._

_"Are you going to stop seeing her?" He questions._

_"No." Waverly answers simply, as if it's the easiest question she's ever been asked._

_Ward shakes his head in understanding and walks into his daughter's closet. He grabs a handful of clothes and walks out of her room, Waverly following close behind. In one swift motion, he opens the front door and tosses the clothes on the front lawn._

_"You no longer live here then." He narrows his eyes at his daughter before retreating back to her room and emerging with another pile of clothes. “I never want to see you step foot on my property again.”_

_“Daddy, please stop." Waverly begs, tears pooling in her eyes._

_Nicole, having heard the entire conversation, turns her car around and starts driving back over to her girlfriend's house. "I'm coming, baby.” Nicole says, even though she knows Waverly can't hear her over the shouting._

_Having finished tossing her clothes out, Ward starts throwing out the rest of her belongings. No matter how many times Waverly screams or how hard she cries, he doesn't stop._

_When Nicole finally pulls up to the house, she sees Waverly desperately picking up handfuls of clothes and trying to take them back into the house. Nicole’s heart breaks, but her sadness turns to rage as soon as she sees Ward block the entrance._

_"Please." Waverly pleads. "I can't help who I love." She drops the clothes to her feet in defeat._

_"Yes you can." He answers sternly and shuts the door in her face. As Nicole exits her car, she sees Waverly banging her fists on the door repeatedly. Nicole sprints up the driveway and takes the sobbing girl into her arms._

_Waverly flinches at first, but then relaxes into the hug when she gets a whiff of vanilla._

_"I'm here, Waves." Nicole whispers as she spins the girl around and wraps her in a bear hug. "It's okay. I've got you." The redhead whispers in her ear as she strokes her hair._

_"I don't have anywhere to go. The dorms are closed right now I don’t-” Waverly hiccups._

_“Yes, you do." Nicole pulls away from the hug, but keeps her at arms length so she can look her in the eyes. "My home is your home always, Waves." She promises as she wipes Waverly’s tears away._

_"He doesn’t love me, Nic. My mother left me, my sister left me, and my daddy just disowned me.” Waverly admits, her hands coming up to cover her face. Nicole quickly intercepts them and brings them up to her lips. She plants a quick kiss to the back of both of her palms._

_“You have me.” Nicole tells her as she lifts up her chin with her finger. “I love you so much. More than anything, Waves."_

_"I love you too, Nic." Waverly’s bottom lip quivers. "You're my home."_

_"You're my heart." Nicole replies before placing a tender kiss on the girl's lips. "Now, let’s get you to the car and I'll load your stuff up, okay?” Nicole puts an arm around Waverly’s waist and leads her to the car. She opens the car door for her and helps her into the passenger's seat. After quickly kissing her temple, she shuts the car door and starts picking up all of her girlfriend’s belongings. She places them in the car and once she is finished, she slides back into the vehicle and looks over at Waverly. The girl has her feet in the seat, her chin resting on her knees and her arms loosely wrapped around her slender legs. Nicole reaches out and tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. A few tears leak from her eyes and the redhead’s thumb brushes them away before they can drip off her chin and join the rest of the tears that have already soaked into her shirt. The hazel-eyed girl scoots over in her seat so she can lay her head on Nicole’s shoulder. The redhead places a quick kiss to the crown of her head before driving them to her apartment in Toronto. A place where Waverly will be accepted and loved at all times._

**End of Flashback**

Waverly drops her gaze down to their interlocked hands briefly before looking into brown eyes again. "Thank you for being there for me then and now. You're a selfless person, Nicole Haught. I can see why I married you."

"You what?" Both girls jump and Waverly quickly releases Nicole’s hands when she hears the familiar voice.

“Champ, I-" Waverly tries to explain.

"What are you talking about?" He angrily steps toward them and Nicole angles her body a bit so she's in front of Waverly.

"I was married to Nicole before the accident." Waverly ducks her head, not being able to look the boy in his eyes. "Well technically we're still married." 

Champ’s eyes widen in shock. "You were married to a woman?"

Waverly just nods.

“Now I know why she's so stuck up your ass." Champ laughs bitterly, his eyes narrowed at the redhead. "Are you cheating on me with her?"

"No, Champ, I swear." Waverly’s eyes grow wide with fear.

"We'll talk about this more at my place." Champ takes a quick swig of his beer before spinning around and tossing the bottle at the wall behind them. Waverly flinches and it doesn't go unnoticed by Nicole. "Away from her. Let's go."

Waverly starts to walk forward, but Nicole stops her. "He's been drinking, Waves. Please don't get in the car with him."

Hazel eyes flicker from Nicole’s worried eyes to Champ’s angry ones.

"Don't fucking test me." Champ spits out and neither of the girls know which one of them he is addressing.

"I'm driving." Waverly steps forward and grabs his keys before turning to Nicole. "I'll be okay. I promise." She assures her.

"Waverly, please please please don't go.” Nicole pleads, ignoring Champ’s scoff. Before he can react, Waverly starts pushing him toward his car.

"Back the fuck off!" He yells back to Nicole as Waverly drags him away. The brunette doesn't want to go with him, but she knows that if she tried to stay with Nicole, that Champ would try to fight the redhead. And that terrifies Waverly. The last thing she wants is for Nicole to get hurt or go to jail.

"Waves." Nicole yells before the brunette can get in the car. Waverly turns around. "Please call me if you need me." The brunette just smiles and nods while Nicole stands there.

The redhead watches her wife leave, feeling a lot like a wife who is watching her soldier go off to war. Though Waverly won't be on an actual battlefield, she still will be going to battle. With Champ. Unarmed. Battles are fought when one enters enemy territory, a place where Waverly is headed right now.


	11. Chapter 11

Waverly wakes up to the ringing of her phone and she blindly reaches for it on the nightstand, a low groan escaping her lips.

"Hello?" She answers groggily, her voice thick with sleep.

"Hey, sleepyhead." Nicole chuckles into the receiver. Her wife never was a morning person.

"Nic, it's _so_ early." The brunette whines after glancing at the clock on the bedside table.

"Waves, it's noon." Nicole informs the girl.

"Exactly my point. That's early." The girl protests while burying her head further into the pillow.

"Well if you don't want to get up, I guess Clarke and I will just go to the park and get frozen yogurt by oursel-"

"I'm up!" Waverly announces as she shoots up from the bed. The redhead lets out a hearty laugh, having known that her wife wouldn't choose sleep over yogurt and a cute puppy.

"I'll be ready in 15. And Nic?"

"Hmm?" The redhead answers.

"I'm at Champ’s, so I'll text you the address." Waverly informs her before pressing the end button.

It's been almost a week since the brunette last saw any of her friends or her sister. She told them that she was with Champ visiting his parents, but truth be told, Champ was visiting his parents alone. Waverly has spent the week hiding out in his apartment. When Waverly went home with the boy after the fight outside the bar, they got into an argument, which led to him giving her a shiner on her right eye and a few other bruises.

_He's just drunk. He can't help it. He doesn't mean it._

Is what she told herself over and over again as she quietly cried herself to sleep.

When she woke up the morning after, the bruises looked so bad, and she knew she couldn't face any of the girls. Especially Nicole or Wynonna. She knew if they saw her like this, it would be the last straw and they would confront the boy, which would only make him 10 times angrier and make the situation 10 times worse. So she lied and stayed away. 

As she stares at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, she brings her right hand up to her face to trace the almost black bruise around her eye that is still visible after three coats of concealer. The brunette huffs and goes to grab her black RayBans. Luckily, they are going to the park today so she won't have to take them off and when they go get frozen yogurt, she will just offer to stay outside with Clarke while Nicole goes in.

A few minutes later, there is a knock at the front door and she quickly slides her sunglasses on before grabbing her purse from the counter. When she opens the wooden door, she finds the redhead standing on the other side of it. Waverly can't help the smile that tugs at her lips when she is once again reminded of just how chivalrous the brown-eyed girl is. When Champ comes to pick her up, he usually sits in his car and beeps the horn or texts her that he is outside waiting.

"Good afternoon." Nicole smiles when the brunette opens the door. "Or should I say good morning to you?”

"Funny." The hazel-eyed girl scoffs playfully before exiting Champ’s place and walking alongside Nicole to the car. The redhead opens the car door for Waverly and the musician offers her a grateful smile. When the brunette sees her sleeping puppy curled up on the seat of the car she lets out a squeal.

“Hi, baby." She cooes as she carefully picks up the puppy and sits down, placing him on her lap. A smile tugs at her lips when she sees the new blue collar that is wrapped around his neck and it only gets bigger when she traces her fingers over the stitching on it that spells out 'Clarke.'

After she is done oohing and aahing over the sleeping puppy, she turns her attention to the driver. The brunette received some good news yesterday and she wants to share it with the redhead. ”So guess what…”

"What?" The brown-eyed girl asks, momentarily taking her eyes off the road to steal a glance at the beautiful woman in her passenger's seat.

"I got an email from a talent scout from Atlantic Records last night. He said he saw some videos of me on YouTube and he wants to meet with me." The brunette informs her chauffeur.

"What?!" Nicole shouts, effectively startling Waverly and the sleeping puppy in her lap. "Waves, that's great! Are you going to meet with him?"

The musician just shrugs. "Yeah, I guess. I mean I have nothing to lose."

"Wow. I'm so proud of you." Nicole replies, a proud smile gracing her features. She is so very proud of the brunette. "A year ago you wouldn't sing for anyone, but me. Even I had to beg you to sing for me. It was like 3 months into our relationship when you finally caved." Nicole smiles fondly as she remembers the first time Waverly sang for her.

**Flashback**

_"Waves, please sing one of your songs for me. Reading your song lyrics is great, but I really want to hear them." Nicole pleads with her girlfriend as she holds Waverly’s songbook in her hands._

_"Nic, I told you I don't sing in front of people." Waverly takes the book from the girl's hands and places it in her desk drawer._

_"Well lucky for you, I'm not people. I'm your girlfriend." Nicole smiles softly at the stubborn brunette before wrapping her arms around her waist and bringing her closer._

_"Ugh fine." The brunette relents when she locks eyes with the pleading brown ones. "I'll sing you one original song, but that's it." The musician holds up her pointer finger and Nicole leans in and kisses the tip of it before planting a soft kiss on the girl's lips._

_"Thank you, baby." Nicole takes a seat on the bed as she watches Waverly grab her guitar and walk back over to the bed to sit next to her. She strums a few notes before she finally starts to sing._

**_I've been beaten down,_ **   
**_I've been kicked around,_ **   
**_But she takes it all for me._ **   
**_And I lost my faith,_ **   
**_In my darkest days,_ **   
**_But she makes me want to believe._ **

**_They call her love, love, love, love, love._ **   
**_They call her love, love, love, love, love._ **

**_She is love, and she is all I need._ **

**_She's all I need._ **

**_Well, I had my ways,_ **   
**_They were all in vain,_ **   
**_But she waited patiently._ **   
**_It was all the same,_ **   
**_All my pride and shame,_ **   
**_And she put me on my feet._ **

**_They call her love, love, love, love, love._ **   
**_They call her love, love, love, love, love._ **

**_She is love, and she is all I need._ **

**_She's all I need._ **

_Waverly strums the last note on her guitar before looking up at Nicole, signaling that the song is over._

_"Babe! That was amazing!" The redhead tackles her girlfriend down on the bed and plants wet kisses all over her face._

_"Nicole Haught, you're getting me all wet!” Waverly squeals when her girlfriend continues to place wet slobbery kisses down her jaw and on her neck._

_The redhead stops immediately and looks at her girlfriend with raised eyebrows. "Oh, I'm getting you wet, huh?" She smirks mischievously and Waverly covers her face in embarrassment after she realizes what she said. Nicole just leans down and places her lips next to her girlfriend's ear. "You can get me wet any time you want, Earp." She husks._

_The brunette slowly removes her hands from her face and looks into her favorite pair of brown eyes that have almost turned completely black with lust. She leans up and captures Nicole’s lips in hers before quickly rolling them over and pinning her girlfriend down on the bed. "I vote now."_

**End of Flashback**

"Nicole?" Waverly waves her hand in front of the girl's face.

"Hmm?" The redhead snaps out of her trance.

"I asked if there is anything else different about me?" The brunette questions.

Nicole looks over at her, a smile still etched on her features from the memory that was just replayed in her head. "Actually, that's the only thing. You're still the same bubbly, hilarious, kind-hearted, _beautiful_ woman that I fell in love with."

Waverly just nods, a blush rising to her cheeks. Nicole seems to always know the right things to say to turn her into a flustered mess.

A few minutes later and Nicole pulls into the park and turns off the car. The family of three plays for about an hour at the park. Well Nicole and Waverly play, and Clarke just sleeps on the grass. Nicole makes sure to remind the brunette every chance she gets that Clarke is definitely hers considering how much he sleeps. That comment always earns the redhead a playful slap on her upper arm.

Most of their time is spent attempting to get Clarke to stop sleeping and fetch the stick Nicole keeps throwing. The brown-eyed girl just feels like she's playing fetch with Waverly though, considering the musician is the one to go retrieve the stick every time she throws it. After the girls wear themselves out, they decide to go get frozen yogurt. Waverly opts to stay outside with Clarke while Nicole goes to get them both treats. When the redhead returns, Waverly smiles mischievously.

"So let’s see if you _really_ know me as well as you claim you do." The brunette sets the puppy down on the sidewalk, still clutching his leash tightly in her left hand so she doesn't lose him.

Nicole smirks as she hands the girl the cup of yogurt. "Oh, I know you." She comments and the hazel-eyed girl just smiles at her before bringing the spoon to her mouth and taking a bite.

"Coconut milk chocolate with strawberries and blueberries on top." She smacks her lips dramatically while Nicole takes a bite of her orange sherbet. "You failed. I wanted vanilla.”

"Nice try, but that's exactly what you would've gotten for yourself and you know it." Nicole challenges.

"You're right. You passed with flying colors, Haught." Waverly smiles as she digs her spoon into the yogurt again. The two girls eat in silence, as they sit at a table outside. Waverly occasionally feeds Clarke some of her yogurt and Nicole scrunches her face up in disgust when she watches her wife feed herself a bite with the same spoon she just used to feed the puppy.

"Waves, you do know he's a dog and not a human, right?" Nicole asks when Waverly feeds the puppy yet another bite of yogurt.

"Wrong." The brunette drops the spoon back in the cup before snuggling the dog closer to her. "He's my fur baby."

The redhead starts to respond, but is interrupted by Waverly’s phone ringing.

"Talk to me, Rosi." The musician lifts the phone to her ear.

"Could you just for once in your life answer the phone in a normal way?" Rosita asks when Waverly answers.

"Nope." The brunette replies bluntly. “Now, what's up? You’re interrupting my quality time with my child."

“Damn." Rosita shakes her head. “Well I was calling to see if you wanted to go out tonight with Chrissy and I, but I don't know if I want your rude ass to go anymore.” The brunette scoffs. “I would just ask my favorite Earp to go, but she has a date with her boyfriend.”

“Yeah, I'll go." Waverly agrees, deciding to let the ‘favorite Earp’ comment slide this time. "Nicole is here with me, so I'll ask her too."

"Oh, I see. No wonder you are so eager to get off the phone. You said you were spending time with your _child_ , but you're really spending time with your _daddy_." Rosita says and Waverly’s face visibly reddens.

“Rosita!" The musician chastises her best friend.

"I'm hilarious." The brunette praises herself. "Chrissy, you're a lucky girl." She inform her fiancé, who is sitting beside her, and the said girl just shakes her head, a small smile playing on her lips.

Waverly just rolls her eyes. "Hanging up now. I'll get ready tonight at Champ's since most of my stuff is there, so just come pick me up at his place." The brunette says before hanging up and turning her attention back to an amused Nicole.

"Rosita say something inappropriate?" The redhead asks knowingly.

"Rosi? Never." The brunette jokes. "She asked if we wanted to go out tonight. Her and Chrissy want to have a girls night or something. Wynonna apparently has a date with her hot cop boyfriend.”

"Sounds fun. I'm in." Nicole agrees, not caring if she sounds a little too eager.

"Awesome." Waverly smiles widely. "I don't know a time, but I'm sure she will text us." She stands up and extends her hand to the brown-eyed girl. "Now we should probably go home and get ready. I doubt you'll get into any club looking like that, Haught." The redhead just rolls her eyes playfully as she takes Waverly’s hand and allows the girl to pull her up.

Nicole nudges the brunette with her shoulder. "Let's go, sassy."


	12. Chapter 12

Waverly shoves heavy loads of make up on her face in attempt to cover up the still visible bruising around her eyes. Nicole just dropped her back off at Champ’s about 2 hours ago and Rosita just texted her saying they would be by to get her in an hour.

"Why won't you go away." Waverly mutters as she tries desperately to hide the bruising. After coming to the realization that regular make up just won't cut it, she retrieves the tattoo concealer she bought a couple of days ago when she realized that it would probably be weeks before the bruising faded completely. Luckily, it does the trick, and when the bruising is no longer visible, the brunette finishes putting on the rest of her make up. 

The brunette spends a good 30 minutes just staring at the small section of her clothes in Champ's closet, hoping that if she stares hard enough, the perfect dress will just magically appear. Unfortunately, it doesn't, but she just settles with a royal blue sequin dress that she wore to a wedding once. It's cute and it covers the bruises lining her arms, so it's a win win. As soon as she gets her heels on, she hears her phone ding and opens a text from Rosita that says that they are here. She quickly makes her way outside and smiles when she sees all her friends piled into Rosita’s car. Since Chrissy is occupying the front seat, she slides into the back.

"Wave!" Rosita shouts as soon as Waverly settles into the seat and closes the door. "I feel like I haven't seen you in ages!"

“Rosi, it was only like a week." Waverly chuckles before turning to lock eyes with the brown ones that haven't left her body since she entered the vehicle. "Hi, Nic."

A smile immediately tugs at Nicole’s lips. “Hey, Waves. You look amazing." The redhead settles on amazing after deciding that _really fucking sexy_ isn't very appropriate.

“You don’t look so bad yourself, Haught." Waverly smiles momentarily and then starts to sing along to the Halsey song that Rosita just turned on.

The drive to the club is quick, and as soon as they step out of the vehicle, all eyes are on all four of the girls. Rosita grabs Chrissy’s hand, a subtle gesture that tells all the guys and girls to back off. Nicole just walks alongside the girl in the blue dress, her hand brushing Waverly’s every couple of steps.

"Nicole, you wanna drink or drive tonight?” Rosita turns around to face the redhead as they wait in line to get their ID's checked.

"I'll drive." Nicole shrugs nonchalantly. She used to get wasted every time she went out, but that got old really fast. Plus, meeting Waverly made her change all her ways. She found out really soon that the brunette is a light weight and an in-denial drunk. When they'd go out, Waverly would be wasted after two shots, but would claim she was sober enough to drive them home. Nicole was always terrified if she got drunk and let her guard down, that Waverly would get hurt somehow, and she would never forgive herself for that.

So tonight, just like she has many other times before, she cuts herself off after two glasses of whiskey neat. Plus, not drinking a whole lot of alcohol means she has more calories to waste on hamburgers and fries. She realized a long time ago that those taste better than alcohol anyway.

Rosita and Waverly, however, have not cut themselves off, and the two girls take two shots a piece before sprinting to the dance floor. Chrissy and Nicole opt to stay at the booth and watch their stuff. Nicole laughs as she watches Rosita and Waverly dance their hearts out. Once the song they are dancing to ends, Rosita drags Waverly back over to the bar for more shots.

"Four shots of tequila please." The brunette leans her elbows on the bar. The bartender nods and retreats to the other end of the bar to grab a bottle.

"Uh, Wave?" Rosita spins her best friend around so she is facing the booth that Nicole and Chrissy are occupying. Waverly notices that a girl is currently attempting to sit on Nicole’s lap. The blonde stranger has her arm wrapped around the redhead’s neck and is practically sitting on top of her. Waverly watches Nicole pry the arm away from her neck only to have the girl put it right back in the same spot.

"Four shots." Waverly hears the bartender say and she blindly reaches beside her to grab a shot, her eyes still trained on the blonde and redhead across the bar. She downs the first shot and slams the glass down on the bar before reaching for the other and doing the same. After the liquid courage, she makes her way over to the booth and stands beside it. She watches the blonde whisper in Nicole’s ear and Waverly vaguely hears her say _I don't see your girl anywhere._

"Baby, I love this song! Let's go dance!" Waverly speaks up before she can stop herself, and Nicole immediately searches the room for Champ, having heard Waverly shout the pet name. When she doesn't see him, she allows her eyes to fall on Waverly. When the redhead sees that her favorite hazel eyes are trained on her, her heart beats wildly in her chest.

"Who are you?" The blonde slurs.

"Her girl." Waverly answers while jerking Nicole away from the booth and away from the blonde. This causes the stranger to fall out of the booth and collide with the floor. Waverly doesn't give the girl a second glance, but instead leads Nicole to the dance floor. She hears Rosita yell _Get yo girl, Wave!_ and she playfully rolls her eyes, a smirk gracing her features. When they finally reach the middle of the dance floor, the hazel-eyed girl turns to face the confused, yet slightly amused redhead. "You looked like you needed some help back there." She slurs.

"I did. Thanks, Waves." Nicole offers the girl a flushed smile.

"No problem." The brunette shrugs. "Since we are out here, we might as well dance."

Before Nicole can answer, Waverly turns around and places her backside against the redhead’s front. The brunette grabs the familiar soft hands behind her and wraps them around her own waist. As the music picks up, Waverly grinds her body into Nicole’s and the brown-eyed girl is on the verge of passing out from excitement. After getting over the initial shock of feeling Waverly pressed against her, she tightens her grip on the brunette’s waist and pulls her impossibly closer to her.

Between the loud music and her heart beating loudly in her ears, Nicole can't hear anything, but she can feel Waverly moving sensually against her, and that's the only thing that matters right now. The brunette runs her hands up and down Nicole’s forearms before interlacing her hands with the ones wrapped around her waist. The redhead’s heart soars when she feels Waverly slide her fingers between her own. They dance for a couple of more songs before Waverly untangles herself from the redhead. Nicole frowns momentarily from the loss of contact, but the smile returns to her features as soon as Waverly wraps her arms around her neck. The brunette stands on her tip toes and places her lips by Nicole’s ear.

"I love this song." Waverly whispers, her words slurred. The redhead immediately shivers when hot breath hits her ear. Before Nicole can reply, Waverly leans back slightly and the redhead’s breath hitches when she notices how close their faces are. The brown-eyed girl wants nothing more than to close the gap between them and take her wife's pink lips in her own, but the smell of tequila on Waverly’s breath is strong. Nicole wants to kiss her more than anything, but she can't do it when the girl is drunk.

As Nicole is chastising herself for even considering kissing Waverly when she's intoxicated, she feels soft lips press against her own. The redhead’s body feels like it has just been set on fire, and every fiber in her being wants to kiss back, but she knows she can't. Not like this.

So Nicole doesn't move her lips, but instead places her hands on Waverly's shoulders and slowly pushes her back. "Waves, I can't." She whispers as her eyes scan the dazed and confused hazel eyes in front of her.

Embarrassment floods through Waverly and she takes a step back from the girl she just drunkenly kissed. When she feels tears start to well up in her eyes, she quickly side steps Nicole and makes her way off of the dance floor. When Nicole registers what's happening, she immediately spins around and grabs Waverly's arm to stop her. She effectively spins the girl around and when she sees the tears streaming down her cheeks, her heart breaks.

“Baby, hey don't cry, please." Nicole immediately cups tans cheeks in her hands and wipes away the tears with her thumbs. "I just can't-"

"I get it." Waverly cuts her off as she removes the soft hands from her face and keeps walking away.

"Waverly!" The redhead yells, but the brunette just continues walking.

Waverly searches the crowd until she finds Rosita. "Rosi, can I have the keys? I'm going to the car." The brunette asks her best friend. Rosita, too wrapped up in her fiancé, hands her friend the keys. With the keys in tow, the drunk brunette stumbles out of the bar and heads for the car.

"Why did you have to do that Waverly?" The brunette chastises herself as she opens up the car door and slides in. She is utterly humiliated and embarrassed and she just wants to go home. Not in her right mind, she quickly cranks up the car.

Meanwhile, Nicole searches the night club and finally finds Rosita lip-locking on the dance floor with Chrissy. "Rosita, have you seen Waverly?" She taps the brunette on the shoulder.

“Yeah, I gave her the car keys a minute ago. She wasn't feeling well or something." She admits and Nicole’s eyes go wide.

“Rosita, she was fucking drunk and upset! Why would you do that?" Nicole runs her fingers through her hair before sprinting toward the exit. As soon as she gets outside, she frantically searches for Rosita’s car and takes a deep breath when she sees that it’s right where they parked it. Nicole makes her way over to the car and sees Waverly sitting in the driver’s seat. She opens the door and grabs Waverly’s hand. The brunette protests, but Nicole gently pulls her from the front of the car and guides her into the backseat. Once they are both in the back of the car, Nicole pulls Waverly into her lap and holds her as she cries.

"I need you to know that I only pulled away from the kiss tonight because you are drunk. I want to kiss you, Waves. More than anything. But not like this." The redhead tightens her hold on her wife.

“Everything is so messed up, Nic. I just wish I could remember you. I wish I could remember our life together.” Waverly turns her body so she’s looking into Nicole’s sympathetic brown eyes.

“Me too, baby. But even if you never get your memories back, we can make new ones.” Nicole leans in and presses her lips to Waverly’s tear stained cheek. She only pulls away when she feels a tear hit her upper lip. “We have all the time in the world. I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”


	13. Chapter 13

"Last song of the night, guys." Waverly informs her crowd and boos erupt throughout the bar. The loudest boos are coming from the back, where Wynonna and Nicole are currently at. The musician just rolls her eyes at the two girls before focusing her attention back on the guitar sitting in her lap. "This is an original. I hope you like it."

_Choosin' all my words carefully_   
_Tryin' to get a read when you stare at me_   
_How did I get here? What did you say, dear?_   
_Talk to me_

_'Cause all I wanted to do was sit beside you_   
_And now all I want you to do is make the first move_   
_Oh, I got you where I want you_   
_And, god, I want you to make the first move_

"She's looking over here, Haught Topic. And I sure as hell know she's not singing to me.” Wynonna nudges the redhead from across the bar, a cheeky grin on her face. Nicole starts to reply, but someone cuts her off.

"Oh look, you're here." Nicole rolls her eyes when it dawns on her who the voice belongs to. Champ takes a seat on the bar-stool next to hers.

"Ditto." The redhead mumbles and Wynonna snorts. Not wanting to give the asshole any more of her time, she turns back around and enjoys the rest of Waverly’s song. She tries to tune out Wynonna and Champ bickering so she can give her wife her full attention.

_Now it's gettin' late and I should go_   
_I was too afraid to let you know_   
_Then when you said, "come with me"_   
_I stopped breathin’_

_'Cause all I wanted to do was lay beside you_   
_And now all I want you to do is make the first move_   
_Oh, I got you where I want you_   
_And, god, I want you to make the first move_   
_To make the first move_

The brunette plays the last note on the guitar and the bar erupts with cheers. Waverly smiles bashfully before setting her guitar down and walking to the back of the bar. 

“Loved the song, baby girl.” Wynonna sets a glass of water down on the bar top in front of her sister. The younger Earp offers her sister a grateful smile before taking a big gulp of water.

"You were amazing, as usual." Nicole compliments and a blush rises to Waverly’s cheeks. The musician has had those words said to her on more than one occasion, but they mean more coming from the redhead. Waverly's eyes fall on Champ, who is scrolling through his phone, and she rolls her eyes at his rudeness. A few seconds later, she feels her phone vibrating in her back pocket. 

"Excuse me." Waverly holds up her pointer finger and walks to the back of the bar. "Hello?" She answers the phone, one finger in her ear so she can block out the loud bar patrons.

"Is this Ms. Earp?" She hears a woman ask.

"It is." The brunette answers warily.

"This is the Toronto Police Service. We are going to have to ask you to come in today. We believe we have the man that attacked you in custody." Waverly’s blood runs cold and her mouth goes dry. "Ms. Earp?"

"Yeah, I'll uh be right there." She ends the call, her hands shaking. When she walks back over to bar, the two girls are deep in conversation about something while Champ is still glued to his phone. Nicole’s smile turns into a worried frown as soon as her eyes land on a very pale Waverly.

“Baby girl, you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." Wynonna lays the rag in her hand on the bar top and quickly walks out from behind the bar so she can get to her sister. Nicole stands up from the bar stool she was sitting on and takes a few steps closer to the brunette.

“Yeah, I um just got a call from the Toronto Police Service. They want me to come in because they think they found my attacker." Waverly runs her fingers through her long hair.

"Fuck." Wynonna breathes out as she drapes an arm across her sister’s shoulders. "Do you think you'll be okay to do that? If not, I can call them back and tell them you aren’t ready.”

"I-I don't know, but I have to do it." Waverly answers unsurely.

“Okay, well let me just close the bar and I can take you." Wynonna starts to walk away, but Nicole puts her hand on the brunette’s arm to stop her.

"Or I can just take her, Wynonna." Nicole offers, but before any of the girls can reply, Champ slams his hands down on the bar top and stands up abruptly.

"I'm taking her." He tucks his phone into his back pocket and grabs Waverly’s hand.

“Champ, I know you probably have a million other things you’d rather be doing tonight. Nicole can take me and you can go home and relax.” The musician tries to reason with the boy because she really doesn't want him to take her.

“I said I’m taking you. Let’s go.” Champ tugs on her hand and Waverly sighs in defeat.

“I uh guess I’ll call you guys later and let you know how it goes.” The brunette yells behind her as Champ continues to drag her to the exit of the bar. As soon as the door closes, Nicole just huffs and retrieves her keys from her jacket pocket. When she has them in hand, she sets some cash down on the bar to cover her drinks for the night.

"You're going to the station too, aren't you?" Wynonna raises an eyebrow.

“Of course I am." Nicole answers immediately.

"Make sure our girl's okay, yeah? Call me as soon as you know something or call if anything happens.” Wynonna stares at Nicole, worry swimming in her blue eyes.

The redhead nods, a small smile gracing her lips. “Always, Earp.”

When Nicole leaves Shorty's, it takes her about fifteen minutes to get to the police station. She quickly parks the car and turns it off. The redhead doesn't trust Champ as far as she can throw him, so she just wants to be here to make sure Waverly is okay.

Meanwhile, Waverly stands frozen in the station, her whole body trembling. When Champ takes a seat, she walks up to the front desk. Once she tells the woman behind the desk her name, she's instructed to take a seat. A few minutes later, a door opens and a man wearing jeans and an olive green bomber approaches her.

"Ms. Earp, I'm Detective Xavier Dolls." The detective holds out his hand for Waverly to shake. "We took some DNA samples after your attack and yesterday a criminal we arrested for theft, matched that DNA." Waverly’s heart beats loudly in her ears. "We want to put him away for what he did, but we need you to make sure that it is him."

The brunette just nods, her mouth too dry to speak.

“You don’t happen to be related to a Wynonna Earp do you?” The man inquires and Waverly furrows her eyebrows.

“Yeah, she’s my sister.” The musician answers. ”Why?”

“Oh no reason.” The detective scratches the back of his neck. “We've just been hanging out.” 

“Oh so you are the mystery man that she met online.” Waverly smiles knowingly and Dolls just clears his throat.

“Yeah um so you can uh follow me." Dolls points to the door he just entered through and Waverly calls Champ over to follow them. The detective leads them to a room in the back of the station. As soon as they enter, Dolls turns his attention to Champ. "I'm going to need you to stay out here." Waverly’s eyes widen immediately and the detective takes notice of her change in demeanor. "He will be right here when you're finished." Dolls assures the trembling girl. Waverly looks at Champ for confirmation, but he doesn't tear his eyes away from his phone. The brunette’s shoulders slump and she hesitantly follows the detective into the room.

As soon as they enter, Dolls has her stand in front of the glass window. "He won't be able to see you, but you can see him." He assures her before pressing a button and speaking into a microphone. "Bring him out!"

Waverly stiffens immediately when a rough looking man walks into the room. She concludes that he must be about 6 feet tall and he is a fairly large man. The brunette looks him up and down, but she doesn't recognize him.

"I know you lost your memory, but does anything about this man seem familiar to you?" The detective turns to the brunette, but Waverly just shakes her head.

The detective presses the button and speaks into the microphone again. "Turn to your left please." The criminal obeys. It's then that Waverly sees a spider web tattoo on the side of his neck. She gasps and immediately steps back from the glass until her back touches the opposite wall.

Before she can say anything, bits and pieces of her attack start flooding into her mind.

She remembers being pressed up against a brick wall. She remembers a knife being held to her throat. But most importantly, she remembers that the man holding the knife to her throat had a spiderweb tattoo on the side of his neck.

"That's him." She chokes out as tears start streaming down her face.

Meanwhile, in the parking lot, Nicole’s head shoots up when she hears the door to the station sling open. She sees Champ walk out, his phone pressed to his ear, and Waverly nowhere in sight. Nicole watches as he slides into his car and then drives off. The redhead quickly scrambles out of her car and runs into the building, all the while mumbling profanities under her breath that are directed at Champ.

"I'm coming, Waves." Nicole mutters under her breath as she slings open the door to the station.

The detective turns around when he hears the small voice come from the back corner of the room. His eyes land on the terrified brunette. “Ms. Earp, are you sure?" He slowly walks closer to Waverly just to make sure he heard her right. The brunette nods her head, her hazel eyes wide with fear. “Do you need some water? Or would you like to sit down? You look a little pale.” The detective asks gently. Waverly just shakes her head, indicating that she doesn’t want either. “Okay, thank you for coming in today and we will call you soon to let you know the date of the trial." Dolls informs her and Waverly nods before sprinting out of the door. She sees that her boyfriend is gone and the tears start to come faster when she realizes she's alone. Gasping for air, she exits out of the second door and starts to run down the hallway to the exit. Before she can get there, her body collides with another and she feels arms wrap her up in a tight hug. She starts to panic, but then she catches a whiff of vanilla.

"You're okay. I've got you."

“Nic.” The brunette chokes out before relaxing into the hug. Her hands cling onto the back of the redhead’s jacket and she buries her head into Nicole’s neck. The redhead turns her head to the side and places a kiss to the side of Waverly’s head when she feels tears soak her shirt. "It was him." The musician whimpers and Nicole pulls back slightly so she can look the brunette in the eyes. "They brought him out and when he turned to the side, I noticed he had a spider web tattoo on his neck and then I had flashes of the attack." Waverly rambles. "I-I remembered him. I remembered him holding a knife to my neck and-" She stops when bile starts rising up in her throat. She frantically untangles herself from the brown-eyed girl despite her protests and looks around the hallway. When her eyes find the sign for the ladies restroom, she darts through the door, Nicole trailing behind. The redhead quickly grabs her wife’s hair and holds it back while the brunette empties all the contents in her stomach into the toilet in front of her. Nicole rubs circles on her back as she waits for the brunette to finish throwing up. 

When Waverly is finished, the redhead guides her to a chair in the corner of the bathroom. When the brunette is sitting, Nicole walks to the sink. She wets a paper towel and then walks over and places it on her wife's forehead. Nicole kneels down in front of her and her free hand finds Waverly’s. She rubs her thumb back and forth across the soft, tan skin beneath it and continues to hold the cold paper towel to her wife’s forehead.

"You remembered something." Nicole finally speaks up and Waverly meets the brown-eyed girl's hopeful gaze.

“Yeah, I guess I did." The brunette chews on her bottom lip.

"That's great, Waves." Nicole smiles before removing the paper towel from the girl's forehead and tossing it in the trash. "That means maybe you could remember-"

"Us." Waverly finishes her sentence and Nicole nods her head. "He left. Didn't he?"

The redhead nods her head again, her jaw clenched tightly when she remembers that the boy-man just left. 

Waverly looks down at her lap momentarily. "Well thank you for being here." The musician mumbles before slowly raising her head and offering the redhead a small, grateful smile.

"Always." Nicole promises and Waverly leans in and places a lingering kiss to Nicole’s cheek. The brunette feels the skin that her lips are pressed to heat up and she pulls back with an even bigger smile on her face.

"Let's go home, Nic." Waverly stands up and leads them both out the door and into the parking lot.

_I'm with you. So I'm already home,_ Nicole thinks as she pulls out of the parking lot and drives to her apartment.

Her second home.

With her first home sitting in the seat right beside her.


	14. Chapter 14

Nicole sets aside the art portfolios she's currently grading and picks up her phone that just dinged.

[4:31 pm] **Rosita:** Sleepover at our apartment tonight. You in?

[4:32 pm] **Nicole:** I have a lot of art portfolios to grade.

[4:34 pm] **Rosita:** It wasn't a question. Your girl has been extra on edge lately after seeing her attacker. She needs this.

[4:35 pm] **Nicole:** Of course I'll be there then...

[4:36 pm] **Rosita:** Knew if I played the Waverly card your ass would come running.

[4:37 pm] **Nicole:** What can I say? I'm whipped. I came to terms with this a long time ago.

[4:38 pm] **Rosita:** Ugh my ship is the cutest I swear. See ya at 5:30.

Nicole shakes her head at the fiery brunette before finishing up the art portfolio she's grading. After setting it aside, she gets up and throws on a pair of sweats and her favorite University of Toronto sweatshirt. She combs her fingers through her disheveled hair before applying a little bit of powder to her face and a light shade of lip-gloss. When she enters back into the living room area, she smiles at the not so little puppy sitting by her front door.

"Maybe Rosita won't be mad if I bring a plus one." Nicole smiles when Clarke cocks his head to the side. After grabbing her phone and keys, she escorts them both to the apartment across from hers and knocks on the door.

Rosita opens the door a few seconds later and raises an eyebrow at the redhead when she sees the puppy sitting between her legs. "Did I say you could bring a plus one, Haught?"

“Oh, c'mon. You said it yourself, Waverly needs cheering up and I know for a fact that this little guy will do the trick." Nicole scratches the top of the dog's head and Rosita huffs before stepping aside. The redhead smiles triumphantly as she enters the apartment. "Hey guys." She greets Chrissy and Wynonna, who are fiddling with the DVD player.

“Hey, Nicole." 

“Hey, Haught Sauce.” They both say in unison before returning their attention to the DVD player.

"Where's Waves?" The redhead’s eyebrows furrow when she doesn't see her wife anywhere.

"Her room." Rosita points to the back. "Tell her we are about to start the movie, so she needs to get her ass in here." Nicole nods and leads Clarke down the hallway.

"Waves." Nicole knocks once. She grins when she hears a muffled 'come in.' She opens the door and the puppy runs in first. Her grin widens when Waverly squeals.

"Hi, baby!" The brunette jumps up from the bed when she sees her favorite animal saunter into her room. "Whatcha been doing, bud?" Waverly cooes as she scratches behind his ears.

"Chewing up his dog bed and peeing all over everything." Nicole chuckles as she enters Waverly’s room.

"Hi, Nic." The brunette smiles up at the redhead momentarily before returning her attention back to the puppy. "You been giving your mom a hard time?" She asks the puppy and Clarke just licks her face in response.

“So, Rosita told me to tell you that the movie is starting." Nicole bends down to join Waverly in petting the puppy.

As if on cue, Rosita yells from the living room. "WayHaught! We are going to start the movie without you if you don't get your asses in here!"

Waverly chuckles before standing up straight. "You heard the woman." She playfully rolls her eyes and leads them all out of the room. When they enter the living room, all three of the girls are curled up on the big couch, which leaves Nicole and Waverly to sit on the smaller one.

"What are we watching?" The brunette sits down on the sofa, tucking her feet underneath her. Nicole sits beside her and Clarke opts to lay down in front of the couch.

" _The Notebook_." Chrissy rolls her eyes.

"Chriss! Don't you dare disrespect my movie like that." Rosita slaps her fiancé's arm.

"We just watch it all the fucking time." Wynonna huffs as she takes a bite of her popcorn.

“Well I’m sure if Dolls was here she wouldn’t be complaining about watching it." Waverly smirks and Wynonna throws a handful of popcorn at her sister.

During almost the entirety of the movie, the redhead finds herself watching Waverly instead of focusing on Ryan and Rachel. She does turn her attention to the screen when she hears music playing. Her heart warms when she sees the older versions of Allie and Noah slow dancing in the nursing home. The warmness is soon replaced with sadness when Allie forgets who he is again and starts to panic. Nicole doesn't even realize she is crying until she feels her tears plummet from her chin to her shirt. The redhead quickly wipes at her wet cheeks and gets up to go to the bathroom.

Waverly, too engrossed in the movie, doesn't notice that she has left until Wynonna gets her attention.

“Baby girl." The older Earp whispers and Waverly pries her eyes away from the movie. It's then that she notices Nicole isn't there anymore.

"Where's Nicole?" The musician furrows her eyebrows as she scans the room.

"She got up about ten minutes ago and went to the bathroom, but she never came back." Wynonna points to the back of the apartment and Waverly immediately gets up and walks back there. 

She sees the bathroom door is cracked and so she slowly peeks her head in. Nicole is sitting on the floor watching a video on her phone, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Nic?" Waverly slowly pushes the door open and approaches the girl. She takes a seat by her on the floor and frowns when she watches Nicole hastily wipe her tears away. "You okay?"

Nicole nods. "Sorry for leaving. That scene with Allie forgetting Noah got to me."

"Yeah that's a sad... _oh._ " The brunette’s eyes widen when she realizes why that particular scene would make the redhead sad.

"I'm sorry I'm such a mess." The brown-eyed girl apologizes and Waverly shakes her head immediately.

“No, don't do that. Don't apologize for how you feel." The brunette whispers as she takes Nicole’s hand in her own and intertwines their fingers. "You're always comforting me and taking care of me and sometimes I forget that you were affected by my accident almost as much as I was." The smaller girl gives the hand in hers a light squeeze before turning her attention to the phone in Nicole’s hand. "What were you watching?"

"Just an old video." The redhead looks down at her phone screen.

"Can I uh see it?" Waverly asks hesitantly and Nicole nods. She restarts the video and the brunette scoots closer to her, their hands still intertwined. Waverly's eyes light up when she sees herself on the screen. "When was this?" She asks.

"The first night of our honeymoon." Nicole smiles and plays the video.

_Nicole: Waverly, put the camera away so I can kiss you._

_Waverly: Nic, it's our honeymoon. I want to document our first night in Paris._

_Nicole: Exactly, it's the first night of our honeymoon so we should be doing this._

Waverly smiles when she watches Nicole lean in and place open mouth kisses on her neck

_Waverly: Mmmm well I've changed my mind. Instead of videoing us exploring Paris, why don't we go back to the hotel and I can video me exploring you?_

Waverly’s cheeks redden as she watches her past self lean in and capture Nicole’s lips in hers. The video cuts off seconds later.

"Well that escalated quickly." The brunette chuckles. "For a second there, I thought you were showing me a sex tape, Haught."

Nicole laughs and looks at her wife. "You would like that wouldn't you?" She playfully nudges the girl's shoulder with her own.

"You caught me." Waverly sends the redhead a quick wink and chuckles when Nicole only yawns in return. "Wow is my company that boring?" She smirks and slowly stands up.

The redhead immediately shakes her head. "No, never, just a long night grading art portfolios." She replies before standing up next to Waverly.

"Well lets go and get some sleep, yeah?" The brunette suggests and when Nicole nods, she leads them both into the living room. They walk in to see that the three girls have blown up two queen size air mattresses and one twin size.

"WayHaught, we built you a bed. You're welcome." Rosita plops down on the air mattress that her fiancé is already occupying.

"Rosi, I have a bed." Waverly raises an eyebrow.

"Well I do too, but this is a sleepover." Rosita reminds her.

"Okay, okay." Waverly relents and lays down on the mattress. Nicole turns the lamp off before following suit. She smiles when she sees Clarke sneak onto the air mattress and lay down at their feet.

"Night, guys." Waverly yawns and all the girls bid her a goodnight before they all fall into a deep slumber.

The next morning, the brunette wakes up when she hears someone snapping pictures and letting out of few _awws._ " She flutters her eyes open and they immediately widen when she sees what position she is in. Currently, her face is tucked into Nicole’s neck and her arm is slung over the girl's waist. She looks down to see that their legs are intertwined and she blushes. Carefully, she untangles her legs from the brown-eyed girl's and slowly removes the girl's arm from around her. She takes a moment to pet the loyal dog at the foot of the mattress before walking into the kitchen quietly so she doesn't wake the other three girls.

"That was a cute position you two were in." Rosita smirks as she stirs her coffee. Waverly immediately covers her face with her hands before grabbing Rosita’s keys from the bar.

"I'm going to uh get breakfast." The brunette points to the door and Rosita just raises an eyebrow.

"Running from our problems are we? Or should I say running from our feelings?” Rosita takes a sip of her coffee and Waverly just groans. "The heart wants what it wants, Wave." Waverly doesn't respond, she just walks to the door and exits the apartment.

The sound of the door shutting wakes Nicole and she slowly flutters her eyes open and stretches. A frown makes its way across her features when she realizes the bed is empty. She stands up and walks to the kitchen in search of her wife.

"Sleep good?" Rosita smirks at the girl.

"Like a baby." Nicole suppresses a yawn.

"Mmhmm I'm sure you did." The brunette smirks.

"Where's Waves?" Nicole looks around the kitchen as she fixes herself a cup of coffee.

"Went out to get breakfast. All that cuddling must have made her quite hungry.” Rosita takes a sip of her coffee to hide her smirk while Nicole chokes on the sip she just took.

"What?" The redhead sets the mug down and Rosita scrolls through her phone before extending it to Nicole. The art instructor takes the phone into her hands and smiles at the image on the screen of her cuddling with her favorite girl.

"Cute, huh? You're welcome for capturing an iconic WayHaught moment." Rosita dramatically tosses her hair back and Nicole just shakes her head, a small smile playing at her lips. She sends herself the photo before giving the phone back to its owner. "For Christmas, I'll blow that picture up for you and you can hang it on your wall."

"An 8x10 will suffice." Nicole laughs before picking up her coffee and taking another sip. She pulls out her own phone from her pocket and sets the picture as her background.

"It means something, you know." Rosita speaks up after a couple of moments of silence. "Her head may not remember you, but her heart sure does."

The redhead just nods. "You know she remembered some of the attack." Nicole nurses her coffee.

"Yeah she told me." Rosita answers. "That's amazing, Nicole. It means-"

"She could remember us." The redhead finishes her thought. "I'm just trying to not get my hopes up."

"Yeah, I understand." Rosita offers her a sad smile. “You two will be endgame though. Mark my words."

"Maybe so.” Nicole smiles softly as she looks at her new background. "In the meantime, can we have more sleepovers?"

"Duh." Rosita scoffs, faking annoyance. "I'll be the official sleepover photographer for the two of you."

"You do take good pictures." The redhead takes another sip of her hot drink.

"Damn right I do." The brunette agrees and Nicole shakes her head at the girl's cockiness.

"Okay well on that note, I'm going to head back to my place and finish up some grading." Nicole rinses her cup out and sets it in the sink. "See ya later."

"Bye, Nicole." Rosita waves as the redhead exits the kitchen. Before Nicole leaves the apartment, she walks to Waverly’s room and looks for a pen and paper. When she finds a notepad and pen on her desk, she writes a note.

_I had a great time with you last night, Waves. Have a wonderful day! You deserve to._  
_\- Nicole_

She lays the note on the brunette's floral bedspread and walks out of the apartment, Clarke on her heels. As soon as she gets in, she sits down and grades the rest of her portfolios. This time, she does it with a smile on her face and when she finds her smile fading or finds herself getting frustrated, she just taps her phone and the picture of her and Waverly cuddling graces her screen.

And like clockwork, her smile returns immediately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first of all, i made a twitter, so you all can yell at me on there if you'd like! my user is @ddamaged_ :)
> 
> second of all, i'm currently co-writing a wayhaught fic with one of my friends. i've posted a summary of the fic and a chapter 1 tease on my twitter. we are super stoked about this one. i will keep you posted on when we are planning to release the first chapter, so just keep an eye out on the notes in this fic and my other fic. hope you enjoyed this update. xx


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Waverly won't be dealing with Champ's bullshit any more after this chapter, but something has to be the final straw for her... thanks for reading and leaving kudos and for all the nice comments. This story is just getting started... so buckle up.

"Hey Wave, I'm headed to Chrissy’s to spend the night. You okay here by yourself?" Rosita asks as she slings her overnight bag over her shoulder.

"Yeah, of course. I think Champ is coming over for a late dinner tonight when he gets off work, so I won't be alone." Waverly assures her roommate, but little does she know, that information doesn't make Rosita feel better at all. Rosita grimaces when she hears Champ's name slip from her best friend’s lips. She wants nothing more than to just shake the girl in front of her, but she knows that will not do any good. Waverly has to want to leave Champ. It has to be her idea and Rosita has come to terms with that.

"Be careful." Rosita pulls her best friend in for a quick embrace.

"Rosi, I'm just going to be at the apartment with Champ." Waverly tries to down play it.

"That's why I'm worried." Rosita mumbles as she lets go of the girl and walks to the door. "You know you can call me if you need anything right?"

"Of course." The musician nods her head.

"Good. See ya, Wave." Rosita offers her a quick wave before exiting the apartment and heading to her fiancé's place.

Waverly gets started cooking dinner as soon as the brunette leaves and luckily she gets started early because it ends up taking her about 3 hours to prepare Champ’s favorite dish. Once she takes the homemade lasagna and garlic bread out of the oven, she hears a knock at the door. When she opens it, she sees her boyfriend standing on the other side of the door wearing an annoyed expression.

"Hey!" She greets cheerfully. The boy just offers her a half smile and pushes into the apartment.

"I'm going to shower! I want beer to drink, not wine." He calls out before slamming the bathroom door, which causes the brunette to flinch. She immediately pours his glass of wine back into the bottle and grabs a beer from the fridge.

Dinner goes the same as it always does, Waverly talks while Champ just plays on his phone. When both of their plates are empty, she scoops them up and takes them both to the sink. While washing the dishes, she hears her phone ding, but she doesn't think much about it.

Champ, on the other hand, reaches out and grabs it off of the table. He quickly unlocks the phone and opens the text.

[10:00 pm] Rosi: Thought you might want this picture. I took it yesterday morning.

Champ immediately clicks on the picture attached and drops the phone to the table when he sees a picture of his girlfriend snuggled up to Nicole. When Waverly hears the abrupt screeching of the chair on the floor, she immediately drops the dish in the sink and turns around. Her heart sinks to her stomach when she sees that Champ’s fists and jaw are clenched.

Meanwhile, Nicole is sleeping soundly in her bed. Teaching today wore her out. Mondays are always the most tiring days for her, so she always gets in the bed by at least 9 pm. Tonight, she stirs awake at around 10 pm when she feels her arm being nudged. She groans and turns on her bedside lamp. She sees Clarke sitting by her bed crying and so she just turns off the lamp and pats her bed telling him to jump up on it if he wants to sleep with her. The redhead turns over to lay back down, but the puppy just starts barking loudly.

Groaning, Nicole sits up in the bed and turns on the lamp once again. "What is it, boy?" She asks and Clarke just continues to cry as he looks at Nicole and then looks at her bedroom door. "Show me what it is." She says a little more cautiously when she fully wakes up and realizes that this is not normal behavior for her dog. The redhead slowly gets out of bed and the puppy leads her into the living room.

Waverly puts both of her hands out in front of her as she slowly approaches her boyfriend who is pacing outside of her apartment. "Champ..." She tries, but is cut off by the boy backing her into the wall and lodging his forearm into her throat.

"You don't get to speak." He seethes as he presses his forearm down harder into her throat.

As she looks into dark, angry eyes, her mind immediately goes back to the day she was attacked outside the hotel.

**Flashback**

_"I can't have you remembering who I am." Her attacker says as he grits his teeth. He presses the knife deeper into her throat and she cries out when she feels the knife break skin. "So I'm going to make sure you forget." He immediately drops the knife and in one quick motion, he shoves Waverly’s head into the brick wall that is situated behind her. As soon as her skull collides with the wall, she sees stars and the impact sends her to the ground. Once her face hits the cold concrete, she prays that the man will walk away. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen. Instead, Waverly feels something else collide with her head and she groans as the world starts spinning. "Sweet dreams." She hears the man whisper before she feels another blow to her head. This blow causes her whole world to go black._

**End of flashback**

Waverly frantically claws at Champ’s face when she starts to see stars and she manages to let out a strangled cry when she cannot seem to break free.

Nicole stands at her bedroom door and watches as Clarke claws at the front door. Not seconds later, she hears a yelp. One that she would recognize anywhere. She immediately rushes to the door and grabs the puppy so she can shut him in her bedroom. She goes to put on some shoes while she is in there, but then she hears the familiar voice cry out again, and she ditches shoes altogether. What she sees when she opens the door to her apartment makes her blood boil. Champ has Waverly pinned up against the wall, his forearm pressed into her throat.

"I told you not to see that bitch again." Champ spits as he applies more pressure to her neck.

Waverly tries to pry his hands off her neck, but she is unsuccessful. Nicole immediately steps into action and drags the boy off of her wife. She throws him into the apartment wall across from Waverly and then steps in front of the brunette as a shield.

"Don't you ever lay your filthy hands on her again!" Nicole spits as she reaches behind her and grabs one of Waverly’s trembling hands in hers.

"She's my girlfriend, I can do what I want to her." Champ lunges at the redhead, but she just shoves him forcefully again.

"You sick bastard." Nicole takes a couple of steps forward and backs Champ into the opposite wall, immediately lodging her arm into the boy's throat. "I will kill you with my bare hands if you ever lay another one of yours on her." The redhead presses her forearm further into the boy's neck. She starts to speak up again, but then she hears the girl behind her start gasping for air. Nicole immediately drops her arm and quickly makes her way over to her wife. Before she can bend down, she feels someone jerk her back by her hair.

"You don't get to take care of her that's my job!" Champ positions himself between the two girls.

Nicole’s heart clenches when she sees Waverly wrap her arms around herself and sink to the ground so she can curl up in a ball. She can hear the brunette’s ragged breathing from where she's standing and the sound makes her eyes burn with rage. She immediately places both hands on Champ’s shoulders and brings her right knee up to connect with his crotch. When he doubles over in pain, she brings her knee up again and drives it into his nose. The redhead smirks momentarily when she hears a nasty crack, but when she hears Waverly’s strained breathing, she immediately scoops the panicked girl into her arms and carries her into her apartment. Waverly clings on tightly to Nicole as the redhead carries her over the threshold and locks the door behind them. Nicole sits down on the couch with her wife still in her arms. Waverly tucks her head into the redhead’s neck and her hands clutch tightly at the front of the girl's sweatshirt.

"I've got you now. He'll never hurt you again." Nicole cooes as she places a quick kiss to Waverly’s head and tightens her grip on the girl. The brunette starts shaking harder when Champ starts banging on the apartment door. The redhead quickly takes the girl in her arms into her bedroom and shuts the door behind them. She quickly sets her down on the bed before turning on her bluetooth speaker. She clicks on the first song in her library and turns the volume up as loud as it will go so it'll drown out Champ’s tantrum. Nicole squats down in front of the hazel-eyed girl and her heart clenches at the sight. Waverly has both hands clasped over her ears and she's looking at the ground. She is still struggling to breathe and it's worrying Nicole, so she gently takes Waverly’s hands off her ears and holds them in her own. She gives the soft hands in her own a gentle squeeze before letting go of one of them so she can hook a finger under her wife’s chin.

"You're safe, Waves." Nicole places both of her hands on her wife’s damp cheeks and wipes the tears off of them. "Copy my breathing, baby." Nicole coaxes as she takes a deep breath and watches Waverly do the same. When she sees the fear and vulnerability in the hazel eyes that are staring into her own, she quickly stands up and sits next to the girl. Nicole immediately pulls her wife into her arms and rests her chin on top of Waverly’s head. She smiles when she sees Clarke place his head in the brunette’s lap. Waverly pets the dog with one hand, her other still balled up in a fist in her lap. Neither of them know how long they stay in that position, but neither attempt to pull away. After what feels like hours, Nicole finally pulls back and looks into her favorite pair of hazel eyes.

"Are you okay now?" Her hand finds Waverly’s and she gives it a light squeeze. “How badly did he hurt you? Do you need a doctor? I should call the police.” She rambles as she allows her eyes to scan over the girl's body to look for any bruising or blood. She does notice that there are already bruises forming on the brunette’s throat and Nicole’s vision turns red.

Waverly clears her throat. "I'm okay now." She promises Nicole. The brown-eyed girl is quick to notice the hoarseness in her wife’s voice and she has to stop herself from leaving right now and hunting Champ down. "I'm just tired.” Nicole makes a mental note to remember to take pictures of Waverly tomorrow so she can get them to Wynonna. The eldest Earp is dating a detective these days and so maybe she will be able to help Waverly. Nicole vows to not let Champ get away with this. 

The redhead just nods and quickly stands up. "You can take the bed and I'll take the couch." She gestures toward the living room.

Waverly goes to protest, but Nicole cuts her off. "I'm not taking no for an answer. You need sleep." She smiles warmly at the girl. "Goodnight, Waves." Nicole goes to open the door, but Waverly’s voice makes her stop.

"Stay." The hoarse voice chokes out.

Nicole pauses at the door, her back still turned to the girl.

"Please." The brunette whispers and Nicole turns the light off in the room. She slowly makes her way back over to the bed and lays down beside her wife. She feels the girl back into her and Nicole immediately shifts on her side and wraps a protective arm around the brunette's waist. They both feel the bed dip down, signaling that Clarke has joined them.

“Night, Nic. Thank you for saving me." Waverly whispers and Nicole gives her body a tight squeeze. 

“Always.” Nicole whispers in the dark. She hears the girl’s breathing even out minutes later and the redhead places a quick kiss to the back of her neck. “Night, beautiful. I love you.” She whispers before drifting off into a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, Chapter 1 of the fic I co-wrote with one of my friends is up now! I'm really really proud of that one. If you wanna check it out, just head over to my profile! xx


	16. Chapter 16

Waverly wakes up the next morning and glances at the clock sitting on Nicole’s dresser.

_5:00 a.m._

She tries to get up, but realizes Nicole’s arm is still wrapped tightly around her waist. She carefully removes the redhead’s arm and gently lays it back down on the bed. After crawling out of the bed slowly, so she doesn't wake the brown-eyed girl or the snoring dog at the foot of the bed, she steals a quick glance at the sleeping redhead. A smile tugs at her lips when she sees Nicole’s hair sprawled all over her pillow and face. The brunette can't help herself from walking over to Nicole’s side of the bed and brushing some hair from her face. Before she realizes what she's doing, her lips press to the sleeping girl's forehead. After a beat, she pulls away and walks over to Nicole’s desk that is situated in the corner of her bedroom. She digs out a pen and paper from one of the drawers and scribbles out a note. Satisfied with her words, Waverly lays the piece of paper by the redhead’s phone on the nightstand.

"Bye, Nic." She whispers before exiting the room. She shudders when she steps out of the apartment and her eyes land on the wall directly across from her. The one Champ had her pinned to just last night. She quickly shakes her head, trying to rid her mind of the images from last night. She has things she needs to do today and refuses to dwell on the events that took place last night.

Nicole wakes up about an hour later and sighs when she sees that her arm is touching the bed spread and not a certain hazel-eyed girl. She sits up from the bed and stretches. While doing so, she notices the note by her phone. She quickly scoops it up and her eyes scan over the familiar handwriting.

_I woke up at 5 and I figured I would just head back to my place to start the day. You looked too peaceful to wake, and I figured leaving notes is sort of our thing anyways so I opted for pen and paper as a way to bid you a good morning. I hope you have a wonderful day at work, Nic. Thank you again for taking care of me last night. You're always saving me. I kinda feel like I have my own personal Supergirl or something._

_I'll be seeing ya,_

_Waverly_

Nicole smiles as she sets the note back on the bedside table. After taking a shower, feeding Clarke, and eating breakfast, she heads to her job.

Waverly, however, spends her quiet morning writing music. When her phone rings, she sets her notebook to the side and places it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Ms. Earp, its Eric from Atlantic Records. We had previously contacted you about coming to New York and pitching your music to the label. We were calling to see if this coming weekend would be a good time for you?"

"Um... yeah. This weekend would be great." She agrees eagerly.

"We know you are coming a long way, so feel free to bring some friends out with you. Just shoot us an email with who you want to bring and we will get it all set up for you."

“Wow, okay. Thank you!" The musician smiles into the phone. "I'll talk it over with my friends and get back to you at the end of the day."

"Sounds good, Ms. Earp. We look forward to seeing you this weekend. Safe travels."

"Thank you, Eric. See you this weekend." She says before hanging up. Rosita and Chrissy are the first call she makes since they are together. Instead of getting an answer, she just gets screaming so she takes that as a yes. Wynonna is next, and she immediately agrees because apparently ‘New York hotels have great mini bars.’ Waverly’s finger hovers over Nicole’s contact, but instead of pressing the call button, she just locks her phone. As a thank you for last night, she decides to get ready and bring the redhead lunch at her work. There she will ask her about New York.

Putting on makeup deems difficult for the brunette when she realizes that normal makeup won't cover the bruises lining her neck. Instead of busting out the tattoo makeup, she just shrugs and leaves them exposed. It's not like she needs to hide them anyway since the redhead practically watched them form on her neck last night.

After calling an Uber and bribing it to stop by Nicole’s favorite burger joint first, she makes it to the girl's workplace by noon. As soon as she enters the double doors, she is greeted by the redhead’s very forward male colleague.

"Well well well, I hope that you are bringing me lunch this time, beautiful." Tucker walks over to the brunette.

“Hey, again." Waverly forces a smile before holding up the paper bag. "And unfortunately this burger is already claimed."

"Are you? Claimed, I mean." Tucker slowly rakes his eyes over Waverly.

"Yeah-h." The brunette stutters.

"Looks like the lucky guy or girl likes it a bit rough." The man raises his eyebrows as he studies the bruises on the hazel-eyed girl’s neck.

Waverly clears her throat. "I better- the burger is getting cold so..." She points down the hallway.

"See you around, gorgeous." Tucker winks before stepping aside and watching Waverly walk down the hallway.

The brunette comes to a stop by the door that reads _Mrs. Earp-Haught_. A smile creeps up on her lips as she knocks on the door.

"Come in!" She hears a familiar voice yell and she opens the door. Instead of finding just the brown-eyed girl, she sees that there are a few students in the room as well. All of them turn their attention from their easels to the door as soon as Waverly steps in.

“Fudge-nuggets.” Waverly whispers as she stares at the students from where she’s frozen at the door. She thought the teacher had a break right now, but clearly she was mistaken.

"I'll be right with..." Nicole stops mid-sentence when her eyes land on her favorite brunette. "Waves." She breathes out, a smile gracing her beautiful features.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt. I thought you were on break right now." Waverly smiles sheepishly and Nicole just makes her way across the room to the girl. She leads them out into the hallway so they can have some privacy.

"No, don't be sorry. I'm glad you're here." The redhead smiles. "They asked me to take up another class in the morning, so unfortunately my lunch break is cut short."

"Well hopefully your burger won't get cold." The brunette frowns as she holds the brown sack up.

"Well one perk of being a teacher is I get to do this." The redhead takes a step back into the classroom. "Alright guys, I know we still have about 15 more minutes left of class, but since you've all worked so hard for the past hour, I'm letting you go early today." The class erupts in cheers and Nicole ushers the brunette back into the room and over to her desk. "Give me a second." The teacher pulls out her desk chair for Waverly to sit in before making her way to the door and seeing her students out.

Hazel eyes scan the teacher's desk and they only stop when they land on a frame sitting on the right side of the desk. It's of her and the brown-eyed girl. They are feeding each other cake and the all white ensemble they are sporting tells Waverly that this picture is from their wedding day. She reaches across the desk and takes the frame in her hands. She runs her fingertips over the picture and smiles fondly at a memory that she doesn't remember, but wishes she did.

"If you were about to ask me to re-create that picture with you with the cheeseburger you brought me, my answer is yes." Nicole smirks as she pulls up a chair next to the desk.

"You read my mind." Waverly chuckles as she sets the picture back down in its original spot.

"Seriously, thank you for the lunch, Waves. I'm starving." Nicole’s mouth waters as she digs the burger out of the bag.

"Just a thank you for last night." Waverly smiles and Nicole, remembering the events of last night, scans the brunette’s body for present bruises. She grimaces when she sees the bruising around her neck area. Before she can stop herself, she reaches out and tilts the brunette’s chin up so she can study the bruises better. She traces her fingertips across them with the same tenderness that Waverly just used on the picture a second ago.

"They don't hurt." The musician assures the teacher.

"You sure?" Nicole asks, her eyebrows knitting in concern.

"If I say yes, are you going to scoop me up in your arms and fly me to the nearest hospital?" Waverly cocks an eyebrow in amusement.

Nicole chuckles when she realizes the brunette is referencing the note that she left this morning when she referred to Nicole as her Supergirl.

"Maybe." The redhead winks as she removes the foil from around her burger and takes a bite.

"So I ran into your male colleague on my way in." Waverly states while leaning back into the chair. "He asked me if I was claimed."

Nicole rolls her eyes, making a mental note to tell the man to back the fuck off. "That man has no filter and no shame."

"Agreed." Waverly plays with the hem of her shirt momentarily before she remembers the reason she's here. "Oh! I forgot to tell you, I got a call from Atlantic Records this morning. They want me to come to New York this weekend."

"Waves, that's great!" Nicole sets her burger down and takes a sip of her drink.

“Yeah, and that's not even the best part. They told me to invite some friends along, so how would you like to accompany me to New York?" The brunette smiles fondly at the girl across from her who currently looks like a chipmunk because she took too big of a bite of her burger. Nicole holds up her pointer finger and Waverly just chuckles as she waits patiently for the teacher to swallow her food.

"Wait, really? I haven't been there in forever!" Her brown eyes light up.

"Yep, all expenses paid too. Well besides food and Ubers." Waverly informs her and Nicole nods in understanding.

"I'd love to accompany you to New York, m'lady." The redhead once again attempts a British accent.

“Not the accent again." The brunette snorts and Nicole puts her hand over her chest, feigning hurt. "Stick to art, you're better at art than imitating the British."

"How do you know that?" Nicole counters. "Have you ever actually seen any of my art?" She cocks an eyebrow.

"No, but I'd like to." Waverly stands up and starts walking around the room. Her eyes scan the paintings hung on the walls. "These yours?"

Nicole nods and stands up to accompany the brunette in looking at the art. The musician notices that most of the paintings are of landscapes.

"Do you ever paint people?" Waverly turns to face the brown-eyed girl.

Nicole just shrugs. "I mean I can, but I have a hard time getting people to sit still long enough to paint them accurately."

"Paint me." The brunette pipes up. "I'll sit still long enough, I promise." She offers and Nicole smiles as she remembers one of her favorite moments with Waverly.

**Flashback**

_"Nic, you promised." Waverly huffs as she crosses her arms over her chest._

_"Waves, I really don't think you can sit still long enough for me to paint you." Nicole sticks her tongue out at the girl._

_"Fine. I guess I'll just sit in the art studio until you come and paint me then." The brunette shrugs as she walks into the art building on campus, Nicole trailing behind._

_“Waves, it's like 9 o'clock at night. We can't go in there right now.” Nicole scolds her girlfriend. The redhead came to campus tonight to pick Waverly up from her night class and the two decided to take a leisurely stroll of the campus._

_"It's unlocked so I don't see anything wrong with it." The brunette shrugs again while backpedaling into the building. Nicole huffs and follows the girl into the art building, where she spends most of her time. When they enter a random art classroom, Waverly locks the door and pulls a chair up to the middle of the room._

_"You aren't going to let this go are you?" Nicole raises an eyebrow._

_"Nope." The brunette smirks as she plops down on the chair._

_"Fine. Give me a second to get all my paints ready." The brown-eyed girl runs a hand through her short hair and makes her way to the back of the room to gather some supplies. After she pours her paints and gathers everything else she needs, she turns around and her jaw drops._

_Waverly is sitting on the chair... wearing, well, nothing. Her knees are pulled to her chest, her arms slung loosely around her knees. Nicole swears her heart is about to beat right out of her chest. This is the first time she's seen her girlfriend without clothes. They've only been dating for a month and the brunette has always insisted on taking things slow._

_"Thought I'd make it more interesting for you." The brunette drops her knees to the ground and crosses her legs, revealing her chest and toned abdomen to Nicole. Waverly lets out a soft chuckle when she realizes the redhead’s eyes have not left her own. "You can look, baby." The brunette coaxes and Nicole just nods her head. She drops her gaze and allows her eyes to take in Waverly’s perfectly sculpted body, starting from her legs. Her eyes travel from her girlfriend's toned legs to her toned stomach and then to her breasts. The site makes Nicole unconsciously lick her lips._

_"You're so fucking beautiful, Waves." Brown eyes find hazel ones once again._

_"I'm nothing special, Nic." Waverly ducks her head and the brown-eyed girl immediately sets her paint palette down and walks over to her girlfriend. She bends down and hooks her finger under the brunette’s chin and lifts it up so they can lock eyes._

_"You're easily the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on." Nicole scans the hazel eyes in front of her for the playfulness that she saw earlier, but all she finds is insecurity and it makes her heart ache. The redhead leans in and places a tender kiss to her girlfriend's lips. Nicole interlaces one of her hands with one of Waverly's and cups the brunette's soft cheek with her other. She gently rubs the soft skin with her thumb while her tongue darts into her girlfriend’s mouth. Waverly releases a moan when their tongues brush and she slowly stands up from the chair. The brunette spins them around and pushes Nicole down onto the chair before straddling her._

_The redhead swears she's died and gone to heaven. She doesn't think it could get any better than this, but then Waverly grabs her hands and places them on her breasts. The feeling of Nicole’s hands palming her breasts sets Waverly’s body on fire and she leans forward and captures her girlfriend's lips in her own. Nicole, gaining more confidence, starts to massage her girlfriend's breasts, which elicits a moan from the brunette. When the moan falls from Waverly’s lips, the redhead has to squeeze her legs together because she’s beyond turned on at the moment. Wanting to hear another moan slip from her girlfriend’s lips, Nicole leans forward and wraps her lips around one of Waverly’s nipples. The brunette throws her head back when she feels a wet tongue swirl over her hardening bud. Her hands immediately come up to tangle in red locks as she unconsciously rocks her hips into Nicole’s in a desperate attempt to gain some friction and release some built up tension._

_"You're so sexy, baby." Nicole pants as she releases the girl's nipple from her mouth. Waverly immediately crashes their lips together, her hips still moving desperately against Nicole’s pants. As soon as Waverly gets the courage to lightly bite her girlfriend’s lip, the redhead pulls back frantically. "Shit, Waves.”_

_The brunette tenses when she leans back and takes in her girlfriend's horrified expression. “Oh, fudge-nuggets. Did I bite down too hard I'm so-"_

_"No, baby, that was perfect and so sexy, but..." Nicole points to the door where a flashlight is currently lighting up the hall outside the room._

_"Crap." Waverly hastily scrambles off Nicole's lap and they both frantically grab at the brunette’s strewn clothing. Once they grab every article of clothing, Nicole reaches for her girlfriend’s hand and drags her to the storage closet. “Nic, I don't think we both can-" The words die on her lips when Nicole throws open the door and steps in, immediately pulling Waverly's back tightly against her front. Once they are successfully as close as can be, Nicole reaches past her girlfriend and closes the door. “Well look at us. Both back in the closet.” The brunette whispers and Nicole fights back a laugh._

_The redhead doesn't know if she's panting heavily because they may get caught or because her girlfriend's perfectly sculpted and very nude backside is pressed firmly against her front. They both tense when the door to the room opens and footsteps enter the room. Waverly immediately starts shaking and Nicole pulls her impossibly closer, a hand on both of her hips. Her thumbs rub back and forth across the tan skin under them in attempt to comfort the shaking girl in her arms. When the footsteps come closer to where they are hiding, Nicole turns her head and presses her lips to Waverly’s temple. She keeps them firmly planted there until the footsteps retreat further away from the closet and then exit the classroom. Deciding not to push their luck, both girls remain still just in case that was a test. After about 5 minutes, Nicole slowly removes a hand from Waverly’s hip and opens the door. She shuffles past the girl and peeks her head out of the closet._

_"Stay here and get dressed, baby. I'll go check the hallway." Nicole plants a quick kiss on her lips before heading to see if the coast is in fact clear. The brunette quickly throws her clothes back on and joins Nicole at the door._

_"We good?" She whispers._

_"I think so." Nicole replies as she leads them into the hallway. After tip-toeing down the dark hallway, they finally make it back out on the concourse._

_"What a night." Waverly lets out a breath as she turns to face her wide-eyed girlfriend. "Nic, I'm sorry I wasn't thinking and I almost got us both in trouble and-"_

_Nicole just shakes her head and shuts the rambling girl up with a kiss. Once she pulls back, she gazes into Waverly’s confused eyes._

_"You're not mad?" The brunette searches the brown eyes looking back at her for any trace of anger, but she only finds tenderness and affection._

_"Mad? Waves, tonight has been one of the best nights of my life. It showed me that life with you will always be an adventure." Nicole steps closer and rubs the back of her hand over Waverly’s cheek. "Wanna know what else it showed me?"_

_Waverly just nods, her hazel eyes locked with the chocolate ones in front of her._

_"That I am falling so hard for you, Waverly Earp.” A grin spreads across the brunette’s features when her girlfriend’s words grace her ears._

_Waverly immediately leans in and plants a kiss to Nicole’s soft lips. “I’m falling for you too, Nic. Hard.” The brunette stands on her tip toes and starts planting kisses all over her girlfriend’s face. "See, I told you painting me would be fun.” Waverly giggles and Nicole’s heart does somersaults._

**End of Flashback**

"Nic?" Waverly waves her hand in front of Nicole’s face, effectively shaking the girl from her thoughts.

"Yeah?" The redhead looks at the girl in front of her with a wide smile on her face.

"Another memory?" Waverly asks knowingly.

"Yeah, just remembering a really great night I had in college." She answers vaguely, still smiling at the girl in front of her.

"I'm sure you had a lot of those, huh?" The brunette winks. "So just how many lucky girls got to experience the Haught charm?" Waverly asks, while subtly biting her lip.

"Just one. There's only ever been just one." The redhead answers and Waverly blushes and turns her attention back to the art on the wall. Nicole, however, keeps on staring at the art that's had her captivated since the first time she laid eyes on her.


	17. Chapter 17

"Thank you all so much for coming with me to New York. It really does mean so much to me." Waverly smiles at her group of friends before loading her suitcase into the trunk of Rosita’s car.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, baby girl." Wynonna assures her sister as she slides into the back seat.

"Yeah, Wave, we wouldn't miss this." Rosita smiles at the brunette.

"Wy, you just didn't want to miss out on the alcohol on the plane and the mini bars in the hotel.” Chrissy chuckles and the brunette flips her off.

"We will always support you, Waves." Nicole replies and Waverly, who opted to take the front next to Rosita, turns around to give the redhead a warm smile.

"Thanks, Nic." Waverly replies and Rosita scoffs.

"And Rosita and Wynonna and Chrissy." The brunette playfully rolls her eyes.

"Thank you _all_." Waverly sticks her tongue out at her best friend before buckling her seat belt and tucking her feet under her. "What do you guys want to listen to?"

"Halsey!" The engaged couple shouts in unison.

“Fletcher is the obvious answer here.” Wynonna pipes up.

"The 1975." Nicole suggests more calmly than the others.

Waverly laughs at all the different suggestions as she scrolls through her phone. "Taylor Swift it is."

"What in the hell was the point of you asking?" Rosita looks over at the girl incredulously.

The brunette just shrugs nonchalantly. "I was putting her on anyway. I just wanted to be nice and ask."

"You're lucky we love you... and Miss Swift." Rosita shakes her head before returning her attention back to the road.

When they arrive at the airport, they arrive a bit late, so they have to quickly go through security and run to their gate. As soon as they hop on the plane, the boarding door closes and they are ushered to their seats by a slightly annoyed flight attendant.

"I hate planes." Nicole voices her fear of flying as she wipes her sweaty palms on her jeans.

"Oh, so _that's_ the reason you put me on the plane in Venice and didn't get on it yourself." Waverly chuckles, but soon stops when Nicole doesn't join in on the laughter. When she looks at the redhead, one of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows is raised. "Sorry." The brunette smiles sheepishly.

"You love to make jokes about traumatic experiences don't you?" Nicole shakes her head and Waverly just shrugs.

"It's a defense mechanism, I guess. Laughing is better than dwelling on things you can't change." She answers honestly.

"You always see the positive in a negative situation. One of the many things I adore about you." The redhead admits and Waverly feels a blush creeping up on her cheeks. Instead of answering, she just leans her head on Nicole’s shoulder.

"Can I tell you a secret?" The hazel-eyed girl asks, her voice only a whisper.

"Always." Nicole promises as she rests her chin on top of Waverly's head.

"I'm scared that they'll want to sign me and if they sign me, I'll have to release my songs into the world. I'll have to listen to people criticize them and me if they don't like them." The musician voices her concerns.

"There will be people who will criticize your music. I can assure you that. However, there will also be people who will fall in love with your songs. There will be people who will listen to them when they need to be cheered up and people who will listen to them when they need a song to mend their broken heart. There will be males and females of all ages who will idolize you because your music changed their lives." The redhead pauses for a moment to gather her thoughts. "I've heard your music, Waves. It's fucking amazing. Those songs deserve to be released into the world because the world always could use some good music to make it a better place. There are people out there who are searching for sounds that they've never heard before and your sound could be just what they are searching for." Nicole smiles as she studies the girl laying on her shoulder.

"You always know the right things to say, Nic." Waverly slowly lifts her head up and places a quick kiss on the brown-eyed girl's cheek. When she pulls back, Nicole sees the tears swimming in her eyes. "I hope that my words can have as much of an impact on someone as your words have on me." The redhead just smiles and continues to look at her wife lovingly.

Waverly’s stomach flutters as Nicole just gazes at her like she's the most precious thing in the world. The brunette lays her head back on the redhead's shoulder so the girl cannot see how red her face is becoming. After a couple minutes of comfortable silence, Waverly flutters her eyes closed, the sound of Nicole’s heartbeat lulling her to sleep. The redhead smiles when she hears soft snores coming from the girl laying on her shoulder. She slowly turns her head to the side and places a tender kiss to Waverly’s temple, only removing her lips when she sees a flash go off. She immediately looks up to see Rosita peeping over the seat in front of them, her phone in her hand and a smirk on her face.

Nicole just raises a questioning eyebrow.

"What? I'm just performing my official WayHaught photographer duties." Rosita shrugs nonchalantly before Chrissy pulls her back down into her seat. "I'll send it to you when we get off the plane." Rosita whispers between the cracks of the seat and Nicole chuckles.

“Okay, thanks." She replies before carefully grabbing Waverly’s hand that is resting in her lap. She interlaces it with her own and plays with the girl's slender fingers for the rest of the flight while listening to her quiet snores.

After the plane lands, they all wait outside on the Uber. Waverly has an arm wrapped around her sister’s waist because the older Earp is stumbling around a bit. Atlantic had mailed them all free drink coupons and Wynonna had insisted that she would keep everyone’s safe. Which as a lie because none of the girls ever saw their drink coupons again. 

Everyone’s scrolling through their phones as they wait on the Uber and it’s quiet until Waverly pipes up. “Oh fudge-nuggets, Chrissy, let me borrow your phone. Mine is dead. Quick.” The brunette breaks the silence and all the girls turn their attention to her.

"Why? What's wrong?" Chrissy looks at her concerned and the other girls share matching looks. Waverly just extends her hand, her puppy dog eyes on full display. Chrissy quickly pulls her phone out of her back pocket and hands it to Waverly, who immediately starts scrolling through it. A few seconds later, ‘Welcome To New York’ by Taylor Swift starts playing through the speakers of the phone and Waverly starts dancing. All the girls, except for Nicole, roll their eyes. The redhead just laughs fondly.

"Extra." Rosita mutters and Waverly just puts her tongue in between her teeth and smiles at her best friend.

“Wave, give me my damn phone back!" Chrissy extends her hand. "I thought you needed it for something important."

"Umm that was important, Chriss. If you come to New York, you’re obligated to listen to that song as soon as you land. Pretty sure that’s one of the ten commandments or something,” The brunette informs the girl as she hands the phone back to its owner.

“I agree. _1989_ is our pop Bible. Good job, Waves.” Nicole extends her palm to Waverly and the shorter girl high fives her. “Also, that kinda just made my day. Thanks for the laugh.”

"You _would_ think that was funny, Haught Sauce. You fucking double over in laughter every time Wave tells one of her dad jokes." Wynonna rolls her eyes while Rosita makes the whipping noise with her mouth. Waverly just glares at her sister and best friend before turning to Nicole and smiling.

"Thanks for always laughing, Nic." She thanks the redhead.

"Thanks for always making me laugh." Nicole replies, ignoring Rosita, who is currently nudging Chrissy’s arm quite obviously.

Wynonna makes gagging noises. “So do you practice those googly eyes in the mirror or just natural talent?” The Uber pulls up a few seconds later, so Waverly doesn’t bother chastising her sister.

“ _Concrete jungle where dreams are made of_ …” Waverly sings as she slides into the front seat of the car.

"You are half jukebox I swear." Rosita states as she slides into the back of the car. "You see this, Chriss? This is what I deal with every day." 

"You love me. I'm your best friend." The brunette turns around and pats Rosita’s knee. 

"You know I do." The brunette huffs. "Anyone else would've already thrown your music lovin' ass to the curb the first time you barged into their room at 8 am singing 'Ghost' by Adaline." Rosita rolls her eyes at the memory. "You're lucky the most I did was throw a pillow at your head." 

"You throw because you care. I know that." Waverly replies as she turns back around. Somehow she convinces the Uber driver to play literally every song that mentions New York in it and Nicole makes a mental note to tip the man for being so patient with her brunette. 

It only takes about 30 minutes to get to the hotel from the airport and when they finally arrive at their hotel in Times Square, they all pile into their rooms. After arguing over who's sleeping with who for a solid 10 minutes, they decide on Wynonna, Waverly, and Nicole in one room, and the engaged couple in the other. It was decided that the other three girls would be rooming together after Rosita announced that whoever slept in their room with them would have to be okay with her sleeping in the nude. Chrissy made a comment about how she is more than okay with it and the three remaining girls raced to the room across from them, opting to give Rosita and Chrissy their space. 

After putting their bags in their room, Chrissy and Rosita make their way into the other room to visit with the girls. They walk in to find Waverly pacing nervously in front of the beds. "Holy crap." The brunette voices. "In an hour I'll be pitching my songs, _my_ songs, to an actual record label." 

“Baby girl, stop pacing before you make a hole in the carpet and we have to pay for the damage." Wynonna walks over to her sister and places her hands on the girl's shoulders to halt her movements. "They've already heard _your_ songs considering you put most of them on YouTube. You’ll be amazeballs. They’ll love you and your music.” 

"Yeah, but I put the best ones on there. What if they don't like my others?" She panics and Nicole takes this as her cue to step in. 

"Waves, remember what I told you on the plane?" Nicole asks and waits for Waverly’s nod. "Well, remember that and go in that meeting with your head held high." 

"Will you go with me?" Waverly juts out her bottom lip. 

"You know I would, but I promised to meet up with my friend Kate since I'm here." The redhead frowns. 

"Yeah." Waverly nods sadly, her bottom lip still protruded. It takes everything in Nicole not to lean forward and kiss the pout off her lips. 

"Rosi?" Waverly turns to her best friend. 

Rosita just lets out a sigh. "Wave, you know I always got your back, but I promised Chrissy we would explore the city." 

Waverly doesn't even bother asking Wynonna because she knows the girl made plans with the owner of a whiskey distillery here in the city. She will be spending the day tasting different whiskeys to try and find some good ones to sell at her bar. “I get it." The brunette forces a small smile and grabs her purse. "You guys have fun!" Waverly swiftly exits the hotel room. 

"Waves-" Nicole tries, but the door shuts and the brunette is gone. "Fuck, I feel horrible. I'm going to cancel with Kate." She goes to reach for her phone, but Wynonna stops her. 

"Dude, you put your own life on hold for her all the time. You always put her first, and I respect the fuck out of you for doing that, but it’s okay to put yourself first sometimes. Waverly is a big girl and she can do this alone.” The older Earp pats the redhead on the shoulder and Nicole just sighs, knowing good and well that Wynonna is right. “Baby girl knows we love her and we will all celebrate tonight after she signs the contract. So everyone go do your thing and meet back here by 5 pm.” Everyone just nods before going their separate ways. 

Meanwhile, Waverly wipes her sweaty palms on her dress for the millionth time as she waits in the lobby of the building. The receptionist told her it would be a little while because Eric is still in a meeting. About fifteen minutes later, a door directly in front of her opens and the eager girl stands up quickly, her songbook clutched tightly in her left hand. A man in a suit steps out of the room and makes his way over to her. 

"Ms. Earp. It's nice to finally meet you in person." The man greets her. "I'm Eric, the guy you have been in contact with." He extends his hand and Waverly shakes it, hoping that her hand isn't as sweaty as she thinks it is. 

"It's nice to meet you in person too, Eric. Thank you for flying my friends and I out here." She offers a smile and Eric just waves his hand in front of him. 

"You don't have to thank me for that. Just repay me with good music." He smiles. "Shall we?" He gestures to the room he just walked out of and Waverly follows him in there. She sees four other people in the room sitting around a wooden table. 

"Waverly, this is the label's Director of A&R, our A&R coordinator, our A&R administrator, and of course, our notary." Eric points to the four people at the table and the brunette waves at them. 

"Hi, I'm Waverly Earp." She announces before walking over to each person and shaking their hands. They all smile and offer a polite greeting. Eric then pulls out a chair and she sits down in it. 

"Okay, so we are going to start off today by you pitching your songs to us. I told you to come prepared with a list of songs you would include on your ideal album." Eric speaks up as he folds his hands together and sets them on the table in front of him. 

Waverly nods and opens up her songbook. "So you have all probably heard most of my ideal album because they are the songs on YouTube. 'Living Proof', 'All In', 'Breathless', and 'She Is Love'." She names a few of her songs. "I wrote a new song a couple of days ago called 'How Would You Feel' and it hasn't been put on YouTube yet." "One condition." Eric holds up his pointer finger and Waverly just nods. "You play it for us right now." 

"Sure, yeah." She answers immediately. 

"Okay then." He stands up and grabs the acoustic guitar that is propped against a wall. He walks over and hands it off to the brunette. 

"May I?" She asks while pointing to a stool in the corner of the room. When Eric just shoots her a thumbs up, she drags the stool to the front of the table. After sitting down and making sure the guitar is perfectly in tune, she looks up. She smiles momentarily before strumming the chords. 

_You are the one girl_

_And you know that it's true_

_I'm feeling younger_

_Every time that I'm alone with you_

_We were sitting in a parked car_

_Stealing kisses in the front yard_

_We got questions we should not ask but_

_How would you feel, if I told you I loved you?_

_It's just something that I want to do_

_I'll be taking my time, spending my life_

_Falling deeper in love with you_

_So tell me that you love me too_

_In the summer, as the lilacs bloom_

_Love flows deeper than the river_

_Every moment that I spend with you_

_We were sat upon our best friend's roof_

_I had both of my arms round you_

_Watching the sunrise replace the moon_

_How would you feel, if I told you I loved you?_

_It's just something that I want to do_

_I'll be taking my time, spending my life_

_Falling deeper in love with you_

_So tell me that you love me too_

When she plays the last note, everyone in the room claps. Waverly just blushes and looks down at the guitar. 

"Told you, a star." Eric looks at his colleagues and they all nod their heads in agreement. 

"Thank you." The musician smiles shyly. 

"Waverly, how would you like to sign a record deal with us? We want to produce your EP and hopefully many more albums after that."


	18. Chapter 18

"So how's the wifey?" Kate asks as she stirs her coffee. “Eliza told me everything. You know you could've told me." The dark-haired girl frowns before reaching for her cup of coffee and taking a sip of it.

"I know, but I didn't want to have to tell everyone. It's painful to even talk about, so I told Eliza to tell you and Shae about everything." Nicole runs her fingers through her hair. "Waves is... better. Her panic attacks are becoming less frequent, so that's a blessing. She's slowly starting to get more comfortable around me and she's even remembering some of her attack."

"Nicole, that's great that she is remembering. Maybe she will remember everything with time." Kate offers the redhead a hopeful smile. "Is she still with-"

"No." Nicole cuts her off, not really wanting to hear the boy's name. 

“Well, I've seen first hand how much you love that girl. I watched you two exchange vows. I'm sure you are doing an incredible job of showing her how much you love her." Kate smiles sadly and Nicole offers her one in return before turning her attention to her phone that's vibrating on the table. She sees 5 new texts from Wynonna and then looks at the time.

5:00 pm.

“Shit, I gotta get back to the hotel. Waves should be out of her meeting by now." The redhead lays a twenty dollar bill on the table before standing up. "I'll text you tonight if we decide to go out." She leans down and plants a quick kiss on her friend's cheek.

"Bye, Nicky." The dark-haired girl calls after her friend.

As soon as she makes it back to the hotel, she sees that Rosita, Chrissy, and Wynonna are all standing out in front of the room with flowers and a bottle of champagne.

"Bout time, Red!” Wynonna announces when she sees Nicole jogging down the hallway.

“Is she back?" Nicole asks as she digs out the key from her back pocket.

"Well you're the one with the key so..." Rosita states and Nicole rolls her eyes as she slides the key in and opens the door. When she steps in, a small smile crawls to her lips as she takes in the sight of Waverly sleeping soundly. She immediately puts her arm out to stop the girls from unpleasantly waking her up by jumping on her or something.

"Ugh, you're no fun." Wynonna huffs and Nicole walks over and sits down on the edge of the bed.

"Wake up, pretty girl." She leans down and whispers in Waverly’s ear. The brunette stirs awake and lets out a yawn while stretching. Nicole swoons because her wife looks so adorable with messy hair and sleepy eyes.

"Hi, Nic." Waverly rasps as she stifles another yawn.

"Hi, sleepyhead." Nicole smiles down at the girl.

"Jesus, baby girl, don’t keep us waiting. How did it go?" Wynonna pipes up from across the room and Chrissy slaps her arm.

"I, uh, they didn't like my songs." Waverly fakes a frown and looks down at the bedspread.

Silence fills the air.

“Waves, I'm-" Nicole starts.

"They loved them!" Waverly announces and all the girls squeal and jump on the bed in excitement.

"Jesus, Wave, you gave me a heart attack!" Rosita announces as she pushes the girl's shoulder. ”Chriss was over there trying to find somewhere to hide the flowers and champagne." The brunette snorts and all the girls double over in laughter.

"You should've seen your faces!" Waverly claps her hands together. "Oh, I crack myself up sometimes." The brunette laughs while the other four girls just stare at her, slightly amused and slightly annoyed at the scare she gave them.

"Well good thing you crack yourself up because ain't nobody else laughing." Wynonna pats her sister's leg. “Except for maybe Big Red.” The brunette nudges Nicole’s shoulder with her own. 

“They wanted to uh sign me as an artist, but as soon as I put the pen to paper to make it official, I just kinda realized that I didn’t want that. So I asked about just being a songwriter for them and they really liked the idea. I’ll write songs for other artists and get paid for it, but I won’t have to deal with all the fame.” Waverly explains.

“Well if that’s the route you want to go, we will support you all the way.” Nicole places her hand on top of Waverly’s and gives the tan hand a squeeze. “I can’t wait to hear all your songs on the radio.”

“Me either! So who's up for a celebration?" Chrissy chimes in.

"You read my mind, babe." Rosita immediately jumps up from the bed.

"Rosi, I didn't bring anything to wear out." Waverly groans.

"Well good thing I brought you something to wear." Rosita smirks and Waverly just lays back down on the bed and groans.

"I'm not getting out of this am I?" She asks, already knowing the answer.

"No."

“Nope."

“Probably not.”

"Not a chance." All the girls answer simultaneously.

" _Fine_ , I'll be over shortly to get my very revealing, I'm guessing, dress." The brunette sits back up and looks at her best friend.

"You know me so well." Rosita pats her best friend's head. "Damn right it's revealing. We are in the Big Apple and you are a songwriter for Atlantic Records now." 

"Let's plan to be ready by 8 pm and then we will head out then." Chrissy smiles as she drags her fiancé to the door.

"Wave, come over in like an hour or two and I'll do your makeup." Rosita announces as she stands at the door.

"Or I could just do it." Nicole chimes in and Waverly turns her head to look at the redhead curiously.

"You don't mind?" Waverly raises an eyebrow.

"Of course not, Waves. I know how much you hate doing your own make up." Nicole offers her a gentle smile and the brunette matches it.

"Chriss." Rosita whispers, still at the doorway. “My ship is sailing." The brunette nudges the girl beside her and Chrissy just places a quick peck on her cheek.

"I'm in love with a hopeless romantic." Chrissy states as she watches Rosita stare at Waverly and Nicole with her hand over her heart.

Two hours later and Waverly, Wynonna, and Nicole are almost ready. The only thing left is Waverly’s makeup and her dress.

"Waves." Nicole calls for the brunette as she puts the finishing touches on her own lipstick. When the girl appears in the doorway, Nicole pats the bathroom counter. "C'mere."

The brunette pads over and lifts herself up onto the counter. Once she's settled, Nicole stands in between her legs and dabs some foundation from Waverly’s makeup bag on a sponge. As she's applying the makeup, she once again sees the bruises that are still visible on the girl's neck.

"They are fading, slowly, but they are starting to fade." Waverly speaks up as Nicole carefully applies the liquid makeup to the area. The redhead just nods and continues to blend the foundation. They spend the next few minutes in silence, until the brunette breaks it.

"When he had me pinned against the wall, I uh remembered more of the attack." Nicole, who had been focusing on applying blush to the girl's cheeks, shifts her gaze to the hazel eyes focused on her. The redhead wants to ask what she remembered, but she doesn't know if she can handle the new information. "I remembered the knife breaking through the skin on my neck and I remembered him bashing my head into the wall. It was like I was back there in that moment and I could feel what I felt then." Nicole tenses up. "I hit my knees and fell to the ground after the first blow and then when I was face first on the concrete, he continued to kick my head until everything went black." The brunette replays what she remembers back to Nicole and watches as a few tears fall from the girl's eyes. Waverly is quick to brush them away with her thumbs so that they don't mess up the redhead’s flawlessly done make up.

"No crying tonight, Haught." Waverly chastises, a small, sympathetic smile making its way to her lips.

"I'm sorry." Nicole chokes out, her voice thick with emotion. Waverly brings her hands up to the girls face and places them on her soft cheeks.

"Stop apologizing." Waverly shakes her head. "And finish my makeup so I can look decent going out tonight. I mean there may be paparazzi following us since I am a signed musician now." The brunette wiggles her eyebrows.

"Good to know that fame hasn't changed you." Nicole chuckles as she shakes her head at the girl. "Now close those gorgeous hazel eyes of yours and let me apply some eye makeup." Waverly does as she's told and flutters her eyes closed.

Nicole immediately leans forward as she concentrates on the task at hand. Shivers run down Waverly’s spine when she feels Nicole’s breath hit her lips. After a couple of minutes, Nicole speaks up. “Okay, you can open them." She whispers, her lips only inches from Waverly’s.

When the brunette opens her eyes, her heart flutters when she sees Nicole’s brown eyes and pink lips only inches from her own. She unconsciously licks her lips and Nicole clears her throat as her eyes follow Waverly’s tongue. She knows that if she doesn't look away, all of her willpower will go down the drain. "So I'm thinking a light pink shade of lipstick. That good with you?"

Waverly just nods her head, still evidently flustered from how close her face had just been to Nicole’s. Once the redhead applies the lipstick, she steps back and admires her work.

"You'll be the most beautiful girl in the club tonight, hands down." Nicole smiles tenderly at her.

"Not possible, that title already belongs to you." Waverly shoots back and a blush creeps up on Nicole’s cheeks. "Now worst dancer in the club tonight, _that_ will be my title." She winks and then hops off the counter. The brunette stands to her tip-toes and places a quick kiss on the redhead's cheek. "Thank you for doing my makeup." Waverly whispers before making her way to the door. "Going to get my dress, I'll be back."

Nicole just nods and watches as Waverly exits the room.

“If I wanted to listen to a fucking Nicholas Sparks movie, I would’ve just flipped over to the Hallmark channel.” Wynonna quips, her eyes never leaving the television. Nicole just playfully rolls her eyes and sits on the edge of the bed.

After Waverly wiggles her way into the tiny dress that Rosita brought for her, she turns to her best friend, her hands on her hips. “I think revealing might be an understatement." The brunette says as she tugs on the bottom of the black sequin dress in a desperate attempt to make it longer. She hates drawing people's attention. She would rather just blend in with the crowd or stay at home and watch Netflix while clad in one of her onesies.

"Wave, you look _hot_." Rosita’s eyes scan the brunette in front of her before turning back around to finish putting on her lipstick. "And I'm sure there's a certain redhead who will be thanking me tonight." The brunette whispers the last part.

"What was that?" Waverly raises an eyebrow at her best friend.

"Nothing." The brunette waves her off and shoves the lipstick in her purse. "Nicole texted and said her and Wynonna are ready. Why don't you go and get them?” Rosita suggests as she drags Waverly with her to the door. The brunette’s protest dies on her lips when Rosita blindly shoves her out of the door and toward the door on the opposite side.

About the same time, Nicole swings the door open and steps out of the room. She takes one step toward the door in front of her, but as soon as she does, it swings open and a brunette comes stumbling her way. Her body collides with Nicole’s and the redhead immediately wraps her arms around Waverly in an attempt to steady her.

Waverly braces for the inevitable collide with the hotel door, so she is pleasantly surprised when she collides with a person instead. She quickly steps back after she’s caught and a small blush creeps up on her cheeks when she realizes she almost tackled Nicole.

"I'm _so_ sorry, Nic. Rosi pushed me out of the door and told me to knock on our door, but I got tripped up and I ended up almost knocking you down instead and-" Waverly rambles until she feels Nicole’s soft hands cup her cheeks.

"Breathe, Waves." Nicole lets out a hearty laugh. "You didn't knock me down. I'm glad I walked out when I did or else we would probably have a Waverly shaped hole in our hotel door."

This time Waverly lets out a laugh that is music to Nicole’s ears and points to the door behind her. "Well you would have Rosita to thank for that. Speaking of the devil, let me go get her and Chrissy so we can make it to the club before everyone leaves." The brunette offers Nicole a lopsided smile before turning on her heels and sticking her head in the door. With Waverly turned around, Nicole allows her eyes to wander over her wife’s body for the first time tonight. The redhead’s eyes widen and her jaw drops when her eyes fully take in every detail of the girl who is screaming for her friends to ‘hurry the hell up.’

Nicole gulps when she sees the short black dress her wife is wearing. She's quite torn between wanting to rip it off the brunette’s body and make love to her right here in between their two rooms and wanting to throw a jacket over her so no one sees her in this exceptionally revealing dress.

So she opts to go back in their room and grab one of her jackets... you know, just in case Waverly happens to get cold… or something.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I'll give you a countdown and you can let your imagination run wild with what I'm counting down to...
> 
> 5 chapters after this one...
> 
> Updates will be coming more frequently, so we'll be there before you know it... xx

All five of the girls pile into an Uber and make their way to the club. As they all walk up to the building, Nicole realizes that her predictions were accurate: all eyes are on the girl in the black dress beside her. The redhead makes it her job to send glares to anyone staring at the girl next to her for longer than 3 seconds.

Waverly’s cheeks stay red as she makes her way to the front of the club. There are a lot of stares that make her stomach churn and she finds herself wanting to turn around and go back to the hotel. She self-consciously pulls at the bottom of her dress, hoping it will miraculously reach to cover her knees, even though she knows it's impossible.

Sensing the brunette’s distress, Nicole reaches an arm out and snakes it around her wife’s waist so she can pull her closer. Her heart warms when she sees a small smile play on Waverly’s lips. 

Nicole mentally high fives herself when she notices that the men and women have stopped looking when they see that the two girls are linked. When it's her turn to enter the club, she makes sure to send a death glare to the bouncer at the door who practically drooled over Waverly for a solid 10 seconds. Fucking pervert.

Once they get in, they find a booth that can fit all five of them. As soon as they do, Waverly drags Rosita to the dance floor while Chrissy and Nicole grab drinks and Wynonna saves the booth. Eventually, Chrissy joins her fiance and friend on the dance floor and hands them both a drink. When Waverly asks where Nicole is, Chrissy tells her that she said she had to make a phone call. The brunette just shrugs it off and continues to dance. Chrissy is the first to get worn out, so she makes her way back to the booth and Rosita and Waverly aren't too far behind her. When they make it back to the other girls, Rosita plops into the booth next to Chrissy.

Waverly just stands by the booth, opting not to slide in. "I'll go get us some drink refills." 

"Amaretto Sour." Rosita yells enthusiastically while putting an arm around her fiancé.

"Blue Motherfucker, please." Chrissy politely chimes in.

"I'll take a Vodka Cranberry." Wynonna pipes up. Waverly nods and turns her attention to the redhead.

"Want another?" The brunette addresses Nicole.

The redhead admires the brunette in front of her and gets lost in her thoughts. _I want you. Your lips on mine. Your nails scratching down my back. Your tongue on my…_

“Nic?” Waverly’s soft voice breaks Nicole from her very sexual, very inappropriate thoughts.

”Another whiskey neat please." The redhead offers the girl in front of her a smile, her dimples on full display.

“Noted." Waverly winks at the brown-eyed girl before turning on her heels to head to the bar. She places her palms on the sticky surface of the bar and waits for the bartender to make his way over to her. Unfortunately, someone else makes their way over first.

“Hey, sexy." A guy slides onto the bar stool next to where she's standing.

"Not interested. I'm taken." She recites, having done this many times before. She doesn't even give the guy trying to hit on her a single glance.

"I don't see him around." The guys leans closer to her. The brunette panics when she realizes that she doesn't really have a significant other at the moment.

" _Her_ , actually. She's sitting at the booth in the corner. Bright red hair, killer chocolate eyes, you can't miss her.” Waverly says, her eyes still searching for a bartender.

She hears the man scoff and she finally looks his way. "The one hanging all over another girl?"

"That's just my friend Rosi-" The words die on her lips as she looks back to the booth and sees the redhead hanging all over someone who is _definitely_ not Rosita, Chrissy, or her sister.

Waverly’s jaw clenches, along with her fists, as she watches Nicole grab the stranger’s hand and interlace their fingers. Her face gets hot and her vision goes blurry when she sees the redhead lay her head on the girl's shoulder after planting a kiss on it. It's then that she finally allows herself to take in Nicole's appearance tonight. She looks absolutely stunning. Her short hair is teased and one side is tucked behind her ear. Her pink lips are curved into a smile that reaches to her brown eyes that are made more prominent by the dark eye shadow she's wearing. She is wearing a black sequin pantsuit and as Waverly scans her outfit, it is then that she notices that Nicole is not wearing the wedding ring around her neck tonight. Her heart sinks to the ground and she looks down at the bar top while her mind decides to chastise her heart. 

“You don't own her, Waverly. She's not even yours.” The brunette whispers to herself before turning to face the stranger next to her. "A couple of shots couldn't hurt." Waverly shrugs and the guy slams a fifty-dollar bill on the counter before getting the bartender's attention.

Waverly throws back every shot that is slid in front of her. She loves how the jealousy seems to fade away with each shot she takes... so she takes more. After her fourth, she looks back over to the table and sees all five of the girls laughing uncontrollably. Wynonna is doubled over in the booth laughing and Waverly rolls her eyes. "Thanks a lot, Nonna." She mumbles before taking another shot and walking away from the bar. The brunettes decides to make a pit stop at the bathroom. The endless shots and the drink from earlier went through her relatively fast.

She weaves through the hallway in the back of the club until she finally finds the bathroom. She walks to the sink and sets her hands on either side of it before looking at herself in the mirror. "You're not jealous." She slurs as she reprimands her heart for feeling these emotions.

Meanwhile, Nicole laughs at another one of the stories that Kate is telling Rosita, Wynonna, and Chrissy about their childhood. "I missed you, Kate." Nicole tells the girl as she holds her stomach in attempt to stop the muscles from aching from all the laughter.

"Yeah, well you moved out of the country with Waverly and left me here with Shapiro and Pressman." Kate whines and at the mention of Waverly’s name, Nicole unconsciously lifts up her hand to caress the wedding ring hanging from her neck. Only it's not there. Nicole curses herself for forgetting to put on one of her most valuable possessions.

"Where is Wave, anyway? She's been gone forever." Rosita questions and Nicole’s head shoots up, along with Wynonna's. Nicole frantically scans the bar area and panics when she doesn't see her hazel-eyed beauty anywhere. Her heart starts beating so loudly in her chest that she can't even hear the music playing anymore. Wynonna starts to get up, but Nicole puts her hand out to stop her.

“I’ll go find her.” Nicole scrambles over Kate and when she gets out, she mumbles a quick apology to her childhood friend. “Waves!" She yells while frantically searching the dimly lit night club. "Fuck." She runs her fingers though her hair before running to the bar and slamming her hands on the counter. This effectively gets the bartender's attention. "Beautiful brunette, hazel eyes, black dress."

Nicole sees the guy's eyes light up in recognition. "She headed toward the back area a couple of minutes ago."

"Thanks." She breathes out before jogging to the back of the club in search of the hazel-eyed girl.

Meanwhile, Waverly is standing outside the women’s restroom, repeatedly shoving away the man from the bar who keeps telling her that she ‘owes him because he bought her shots.’

“I don’t owe you anything!” The brunette shouts as she shoves her palms into the man’s chest. Luckily, he’s pretty drunk, so he doesn’t have a lot of strength or balance. This makes it pretty easy for her to fend him off. 

“I bought you shots, so you do owe me bitch!” The man lunges at her again and she backs up, getting ready to shove him once more.

“I said no!” Waverly holds her hands out in front of her, but before they make contact with his chest, he’s pulled away from her. The next thing she sees is the man being pinned up against the wall by a very livid redhead.

"No means no, you son of a bitch!” Nicole connects her fist with the guy's nose and he slumps to the ground. When he doesn’t move, the redhead looks up at Waverly. Her eyes are glossed over and one of her hands is clasped over her mouth. Nicole slowly makes her way over to the trembling girl, her hands reaching out to cup the brunette's tear-stained cheeks.

"Baby, can you look at me? Please look at me." Nicole begs, her own eyes welling up with tears.

Waverly’s hazel eyes find Nicole’s brown ones and the redhead’s heart breaks at how distant and cold the normally warm and vibrant hazel eyes look. Waverly takes a step back, effectively making Nicole’s hands fall from her face, and starts walking down the hallway back to the bar area.

"Waverly!" Nicole calls after her.

"I'm fine, Nicole." The brunette calls back without even turning around. Nicole quickly jogs to catch up to the girl and steps in front of her.

"Waves, please-"

"I said I'm fine!" Waverly raises her voice and glares at the redhead.

"Baby, talk to me. _Please_." Nicole pleads with the brunette.

"Why do you even care? Just go back out there and hang out with your new _friend_. She's the reason you aren't wearing the necklace tonight, right?" Waverly slurs as she sways a little.

"Kate?" The brown-eyed girl questions.

_"Kate?"_ Waverly mimics Nicole and in any other situation the brown-eyed girl would probably laugh at drunk Waverly, but now is not the time. "I don't care who she is, Nicole." The brunette spits out before crossing her arms.

Nicole knows she's drunk, so she doesn't really know what she's saying, but someone did once tell her that drunk words are sober thoughts. Normally, the redhead would be ecstatic that the hazel-eyed girl is jealous, but right now she needs the same girl to know that she only has eyes for her.

"Waves, it's _Kate_. We've been friends since childhood." She informs the drunk girl in front of her. "And I just forgot to put on any jewelry tonight, baby. I promise I'll wear the ring around my neck until you want it back." Nicole notices that Waverly’s bottom lip has started to tremble and she’s pretty sure she knows what's coming next.

"Where were you?" Waverly chokes out. "Where were you, Nicole?" Her solemn state turns to a state of rage that is directed toward Nicole. The redhead knows the question has a double meaning to it. She knows the brunette isn't just talking about tonight, she's talking about a year ago too. Nicole expected this outburst when the two reunited, but it never came because Waverly couldn't remember. Now that the girl is getting some of her memories back, it only makes sense that the outburst is happening now.

"I almost died, Nicole. Do you get that? I almost _died_." A small hiccup escapes from Waverly’s lips. "And you weren't there." She pokes her finger into Nicole’s chest. 

Nicole wipes away the tears that are freely falling down her face. She wants to speak up, but she knows that Waverly needs to say her piece, so she stays quiet.

"We were married and no I don't remember it, but I've seen pictures and I know we were. Why did you send me away?" The musician wipes away the tears that are streaming down her face with the back of her trembling hand.

"Waves, I had to keep you-"

"Don't say safe." She points a finger at Nicole. "Don't you _dare_ say safe because obviously my life has not been safe since the day you put me on that plane alone." She moves her hair from her face and points to the bruises on her neck. "Does this look safe to you, Nicole? Huh?" The brunette laughs bitterly. "You're the reason I can't remember our life together. You put me on that stupid plane and now I can't remember years of my life." Waverly bites her trembling lip in attempt to stop it from doing just that.

_There it is,_ Nicole thinks.

The redhead can't take it anymore, so she quickly closes the distance between the two of them and takes the angry girl into her arms. Waverly’s fists rest on Nicole’s chest as she fights the hug.

"Let me go! You did it once, it shouldn't be hard to do it again!" The brunette screams as she bangs her fists into the redhead’s chest. The latter only tightens her grip and whispers sweet nothings in Waverly’s ear to try and get the intoxicated girl to calm down. When Waverly realizes Nicole isn't letting go, she drops her hands to her side and buries her face in the crook of the redhead’s neck.

Nicole slides down on the floor with Waverly still in her arms and pulls her onto her lap. "I'm sorry, baby." She kisses the side of her head over and over again while Waverly grips the front of her pantsuit. "I'll never let you go again."

About a half hour later, Nicole hears Waverly’s breathing even out. She looks down at the girl who has her face tucked in the crook of her neck and she gently brushes some hair from her face. Nicole looks up when she sees someone enter the hall area and her eyes meet Wynonna’s. The brunette’s eyebrows knit together and her eyes fill with worry when she takes in the man knocked out on the floor and the sleeping brunette in Nicole’s arms.

"I'll tell you later. I’m gonna get a taxi and get her back to the hotel.” Nicole stands up with the girl in her arms. "Go get a bouncer and tell them this man assaulted a lady and that he needs to be dealt with." Wynonna’s eyes grow wider and she turns on her heels to go find security.

The redhead carries her wife back into the bar area and then outside, where luckily a bunch of taxis are already waiting to pick people up.

Nicole opens the back seat of the taxi and carefully lays Waverly down before sliding in next to her. She places the brunette’s head on her lap and finds herself alternating between combing through her hair and tracing Waverly’s somber features with her fingertips. The art teacher runs her thumb over her wife's soft lips and down her jaw. She continues the movements until the taxi pulls up to their hotel. Nicole carries the sleeping girl to their room and lays her on the bed. She starts to rummage through Waverly’s suitcase until she finds pajama pants and a t-shirt. Nicole quickly slides the pants over the brunette’s toned legs and then slides the dress off the girl. The redhead turns her head as she exposes Waverly’s chest area. She's seen it a million times, but that was when Waverly was awake and _very_ much in love with her. Nicole doesn't want to overstep any boundaries, even if Waverly is still her wife.

She turns off all the lights and grabs Waverly’s hand. She brings it up to her lips and kisses every knuckle before laying it back down on the bed. "I love you so much and I'm so sorry for not protecting you like I should." Nicole runs the back of her hand over Waverly’s soft cheek. "You are the love of my life, Waverly Earp, and I will never give up on you. Where you go, I go." The redhead chokes out before leaning down and placing a tender kiss near her wife's lips. She covers her up before exiting the room. She knows the three girls she left at the club will be back to the hotel any minute now and she will have to fill them in on everything that happened tonight.


	20. Chapter 20

"Jesus, Haught. Breathe." Wynonna places a comforting hand on the redhead’s leg.

"I'm trying, but it's easier said than done." Nicole bounces her leg nervously.

Currently, Nicole, Wynonna, Rosita, and Chrissy are sitting on a wooden bench in the local courthouse awaiting the trial of Waverly’s attacker. This past weekend, the brunette received a call from Detective Dolls and he informed her that the trial would be the following weekend.

Nicole is a nervous wreck and it doesn't help that she hasn't gotten to see Waverly for like a week. The girl has been at the courthouse in a room somewhere with her lawyer prepping for the trial. The redhead cannot shake the sick feeling in her stomach because she knows she is going to have to see and hear things today that won't be pleasant. One of those being the man that caused her wife to forget every bit of time that they spent together. Waverly also warned her that they would be showing images of her after the attack. Just the thought of seeing her wife in that state absolutely petrifies Nicole.

The art teacher is successfully tuning out everything around her, until she sees the judge enter. She immediately rises to her feet along with everyone else in the courtroom. Soon after, Waverly enters with her lawyer and Nicole’s heart skips a beat. She looks absolutely adorable in her little pencil skirt and blouse, but there is fear laced in those beautiful hazel eyes of hers and Nicole just wants to hold her and promise her that it will all be okay.

Unfortunately, she doesn't get long to enjoy her wife's beautiful presence because seconds after Waverly walks in, the back door swings open and a scruffy man in an orange jumpsuit enters. As he passes by, Nicole catches a glimpse of the spiderweb tattoo on his neck. He is wearing a smirk as he gazes forward and the redhead follows his eyes to see that he is smirking at her wife. Waverly, however, has her head down, her sight is on her hands that are folded neatly in her lap. The brunette cannot bring herself to look up and Nicole cannot bring herself to stop drilling holes in the side of his head. 

The redhead is broken from her thoughts and her staring when she feels a hand cover her right hand, the one currently gripping the edge of the wooden bench. She averts her eyes from Waverly’s attacker and locks eyes with Wynonna’s sympathetic ones.

"We'll get through this. _She’ll_ get through this.” The older Earp assures the nervous girl and her tone is so convincing that Nicole finds herself believing the woman.

The trial begins and Nicole tunes out most of it because she’s just watching her wife the entire time. However, she gives the trial her full attention when Waverly is called to the stand.

"Ms. Earp, can you please describe what you remember the night of the attack?" The defense attorney questions.

"I uh have brain damage, so I can't remember much, but I do remember being pushed up against a brick wall and having a knife pressed to my throat. I remember the man had a spiderweb tattoo on his neck." Waverly shudders at the memory. "I remember my head being shoved against the wall and then when I fell to the ground, I was kicked in the head until I blacked out.”

"So you don't remember anything else?" He asks.

"No." The brunette shakes her head.

"The girl has brain damage and memory loss. How can she adequately accuse my client of attacking her?" He questions the jury.

"If I may, your Honor." Waverly’s lawyer stands up. When the judge nods, he speaks. "The police found that your client's DNA matched the DNA on Ms. Earp’s body after the attack."

"Well what if my client stopped to help the girl and that is why she remembers him being there?" The defense attorney counters.

"Well, call him up on the stand and we will find out." Waverly’s lawyer circles the table and stands in front of it. The judge motions for the defendant to stand up and Waverly does the same. She leaves the stand and cringes as she walks past the man in the orange jumpsuit.

"Hey, baby." The man whispers and the brunette freezes. More images from the attack come back in flashes and she remembers walking out of a hotel and coming face to face with a man, who immediately shoves her against a wall. She remembers feeling a cold metal object being pressed to her neck and then she hears a raspy voice whisper ‘hey, baby.’

Nicole watches as Waverly freezes after she passes the criminal. She immediately scoots to the edge of the bench as she watches the girl completely zone out. She sees the blood drain from Waverly’s face and Nicole and Wynonna start to stand up, but Rosita puts a hand out and stops them both.

"Ms. Earp." Waverly hears someone call her name and she immediately snaps out of her thoughts. Her eyes dart around the courtroom once before they settle on the judge. The woman gestures to the table she was previously sitting at and the brunette walks over and sits down.

"Mr. Clayborn, can you please describe to us what you were doing the night of August 18, 2019?" Waverly’s lawyer questions.

"I was coming home from the bar and I bumped into that chick there." He points to the brunette.

The lawyer just nods. "Well then how do you explain your DNA being on her wrist, head, and neck?"

The man tenses. "I told you, I bumped into the bitch!" He raises his voice and Nicole immediately clenches both of her hands into a tight fist.

"Well if you bumped into her, how do you explain your skin cells being under my client's fingernails?" The lawyer steps closer to the stand while the man just shrugs.

Waverly has flashes of her clawing the man's face as he presses the knife deeper into her throat. She reaches out a shaky hand to get her water. She takes a sip to try and wash down the lump in her throat, even though she knows it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

"Well, what I think happened is you followed Ms. Earp out of the hotel bar so you could rob her." The lawyer continues when the defendant doesn't answer his last question.

"You have no proof." The criminal spits.

"I have pictures." The lawyer grabs photos from his briefcase and a bag with a bloody knife in it. "I also have a knife with your fingerprints on it." Waverly’s lawyer hands the pictures to one of the members of the jury and they place them under a camera so that they are displayed on a screen for the rest of the jury and everyone in the courthouse to see.

Bile rises in Nicole’s throat as she watches the slideshow of pictures. The first is a picture of Waverly laying in a hospital bed with white bandages wrapped around her head and neck, her face and body bruised and bloody. The second is of the place where it happened. You can visibly see the blood lining the pavement and Nicole’s stomach comes up in her throat because she knows all that blood belonged to her wife. The third picture is what causes the tears to start to fall freely. It is a picture of Waverly in the ambulance right after the attack. There are paramedics surrounding her and blood is pouring down the front of her face from the gashes on her head. Nicole can also see the deep gash in her throat from where the knife penetrated it. The sight of the brunette covered in so much blood and looking so completely lifeless causes the redhead to release a sob. Rosita and Wynonna, having heard the small whimper escape Nicole’s lips, both place their arms around the redhead's shoulders.

"It's okay. She's okay now." Wynonna whispers in the trembling redhead’s ear. Nicole just nods and looks back toward the front of the room when Waverly’s lawyer speaks up again.

"I think that you placed a knife at Ms. Earp’s throat while you robbed her of her belongings. Then you proceeded to bang her head repeatedly against the brick wall so she wouldn't remember or be able to identify you." The lawyer takes a breath. "So I ask again, why did you rob Ms. Earp the night of August 18, 2019?"

"Because she was a fucking easy target! The bitch had been crying at the hotel bar all night and I knew she was weak!" The attacker yells and Waverly immediately flinches. Her lawyer smiles momentarily, after getting the confession, but it quickly fades when he hears his client's ragged breathing coming from behind him.

"Thank you. I have no further questions." The lawyer approaches the judge. "Can we take a recess?" He asks and the judge nods.

"Fifteen minute recess." She bangs the gavel and Nicole and Wynonna immediately stand up and make their way to Waverly. They get to the girl as soon as the criminal is being escorted from the stand.

"I should've fucking ended your pathetic life when I had the chance." He lunges at the brunette. Wynonna is quicker though and before he can close any more distance, the angry Earp collides her fist with his face and sends him stumbling back. The man is immediately detained by two more guards and so is Wynonna. Nicole lunges for him as well, but an officer wraps an arm around her waist and holds her back. The redhead has her eyes narrowed at the man in the orange jumpsuit, but all her rage fades away when her eyes fall on a panicking Waverly. She immediately struggles against the hands holding her so she can get to her wife, but the officer just tightens his grip on her.

"Please let me go. I have to calm her down." Nicole begs and the officer holding her looks at the judge. When the judge just nods, he hesitantly releases the girl. Nicole immediately scrambles to her wife and pulls her into her arms. The redhead tucks Waverly’s head into her neck and wraps both arms around her trembling body.

"You're okay. You're safe." Nicole whispers into Waverly’s ear. "I've got you." She places kiss after kiss to her wife's head. Nicole looks for the older Earp and sees her sitting in between two guards on a bench in the back, her hands still cuffed. The redhead assumes they’ll just keep her like that until the end of the trial and let her go once Clayborn is out of the courthouse for good.

When the fifteen minutes are up, Waverly is considerably calmer and Nicole is thankful for that. She feels her tense up again when the man in the orange jumpsuit re-enters the court room, three guards around him. He glares at Nicole and the girl glares right back. A satisfied smirk makes its way across her face when she sees the dried blood around the man's nose and the stitches lining the bridge of it. She makes a mental note to buy Wynonna a bottle of whiskey to thank her for that tonight. The redhead breaks her gaze from him when she feels Waverly start to shake. She immediately brings her finger up and turns Waverly’s chin so she's looking at Nicole instead of the man in the orange jumpsuit.

"Just look at me, okay? Not him." Nicole coaxes and Waverly just nods. The judge bangs her gavel and Nicole hesitantly stands up. When the two break contact, the brunette whimpers and Nicole’s heart breaks. She kneels down in front of her sitting wife. "I'll be sitting to your left so if you get overwhelmed or scared just turn to your left and look at me, okay?" Nicole grabs the musician’s soft hands and places a kiss on each before placing them gently back on the girl's lap. "See Rosita and Chrissy?" The redhead points and Waverly searches the courtroom for her best friends. Her eyes finally land on the two of them. Rosita has her head resting on Chrissy’s shoulder, both their faces tear-stained. "I'll be right there." Waverly hears Nicole say and she just nods solemnly. 

"Ma'am, I need you to return to your seat please." A guard comes to get the redhead and she places a kiss on Waverly’s tear-stained cheek before retreating back to her seat.

"How is she?" Rosita asks as she slowly raises her head from Chrissy’s shoulder.

"She'll be okay I think." Nicole offers her a sad smile.

"How are you?" The brunette asks.

"Not so good." Nicole replies almost immediately, her bottom lip quivering.

"Well at least Wynonna got to deck the asshole. That must've felt liberating." Rosita turns around to check on the detained Earp.

“I wish I could get my hands on the bastard." The redhead replies as she clenches her jaw tightly.

"Court is back in session!" The judge announces. "Will the jury foreperson please stand? Has the jury reached a unanimous verdict?"

"Yes, your Honor, we have." A man stands up and addresses the judge.

Waverly watches as another man walks over and takes a piece of paper from the jury and gives it to the judge. The judge reads over it and hands it back to the man.

"The jury finds the defendant guilty of attempted murder, assault and battery, and armed robbery." The clerk announces and Waverly sighs in relief.

"The defendant is hereby sentenced to 45 years in federal prison. Case dismissed." The judge bangs her gavel and the security guards immediately escort the criminal out of the courtroom. The brunette stands up and immediately engulfs her lawyer in a big hug before walking toward her friends. Rosita immediately launches herself into Waverly’s arms.

"Are you okay, Wave?” Rosita mumbles into her best friend’s shoulder.

"The man who ruined my entire life is going to prison for 45 years, so yeah that definitely is somewhat relieving." Waverly holds her best friend tightly until Rosita releases her first.

"He just better be glad I didn't get a hold of his sorry ass." Rosita grumbles and Waverly lightly chuckles.

"Stand down, Rosi. I think Nonna hit him hard enough for the both of you." The brunette smiles fondly in her sister’s direction as she hooks her arm with Rosita’s. She sees her older sister getting a stern talking to by some officers and she releases a breath she didn’t even know she was holding when she watches them take the handcuffs off of her.

"Let's go home." Rosita smiles.

"Actually, I was thinking we could go get some food somewhere?" Chrissy pipes up.

"Yes!" Waverly eagerly chimes in. "Sorry Rosi, but going to get food is better than going home."

"I could go for some food." The brunette shrugs.

“Same." Nicole smiles as she walks up to Waverly and absentmindedly interlaces their hands. Her eyes widen when she realizes what she just did, but her fear of rejection dissipates when Waverly just looks up at her and smiles.

"Hey Rosi, before we leave, maybe you should go ahead and confess to that time you graffitied the side of the school wall our senior year of high school." Waverly smirks and Rosita’s eyes widen before she clamps her hand over her friend’s mouth.

"Jesus, Wave. I want food, not _jail_ time." Rosita looks around to make sure no one heard her best friend’s confession.

"Orange Is the New Black ft. Rosita Bustillos." Waverly states as they all walk out of the courthouse. "Now that's a show I would watch."

"Well if Ruby Rose will be in jail with me, maybe I should go back in there and turn myself in." Rosita wiggles her eyebrows and Chrissy scoffs.

"Why do you need Ruby Rose when you have me?" Chrissy tosses her hair back.

"You're right, baby. Ruby doesn't stand a chance at stealing my heart, it already belongs to you." Rosita leans in and captures her fiancé's lips in her own.

"Slowly losing my appetite here." Waverly announces as she lets go of Nicole’s hand and back peddles to the car, a smirk evident on her face.

"So dramatic." Rosita rolls her eyes.

"You're one to talk, Bustillos." Nicole chimes in, laughing when the girl shoots her a dirty look.

“Damn, you taking her side over mine?" Rosita smirks at the redhead.

“Hey! Wait on me!” They hear a familiar voice and turn around just in time to see Wynonna sprinting out of the courthouse. Rosita and Nicole chuckle as they watch Wynonna run straight into her sister’s arms. The older Earp picks her sister up and spins her around, while Waverly just chuckles and places a kiss to her sister’s head. Both Nicole and Rosita watch the interaction fondly.

“I’ll always take her side." Nicole replies with a wink before looking forward again and watching Waverly slide into the car, Chrissy and Wynonna following behind her.

"You got it bad, Haught." The brunette smirks at the art teacher before looking at her fiancé. "But it's okay, I do too."


	21. Chapter 21

"Waves, why are you so nervous?" Nicole chuckles at the anxious brunette who is currently smoothing out her outfit for the hundredth time. When they arrive at their destination, Nicole immediately turns off the engine and gets out. She meets the nervous brunette in front of the Jeep and puts her hands on the girl’s shoulders.

"Because they know me, but I don't know them and that makes me nervous. I mean they met me before I lost my memory, so what if they hate this me?" Waverly wipes her sweaty hands on her black skirt.

"Well at least Rosita’s here to make you look better." Wynonna shrugs as she leans against the hood of Xavier's SUV and Rosita scoffs in annoyance.

"I feel the love, Wy." The brunette crosses her arms and pouts.

"I just hate disappointing people. I feel like this me will let them down and I hate letting people down." Waverly voices her concerns.

Currently, Waverly, Nicole, Wynonna, Xavier, Rosita, and Chrissy are all headed to celebrate Thanksgiving with a few of Nicole's friends. While all the other girls are excited, mainly about the food, the musician can't help but be apprehensive about seeing all of Nicole’s friends again. 

"Waves, they'll love you." The redhead smiles warmly at the girl. Truth be told, she's flattered that Waverly’s nervous about meeting her friends... again. It reminds her of the first time she brought the brunette to this very house for a game night so she could meet them all.

**Flashback**

_"Baby, they'll love you." Nicole promises as she turns to face the brunette sitting in her passenger's seat._

_Nicole and Waverly have been dating for awhile now and the redhead thought it was about time that her girlfriend met her friends. Plus, they have been bugging her nonstop to bring her around._

_"What if you talked me up and I don't live up to their expectations? Oh god, what if they hate me and then we break up because you don't want to date a girl that your friends hate?" The brunette rambles._

_"Baby." The redhead cups Waverly’s soft cheeks with her hands. "First, they would never hate you. Second, if they did, which wouldn't happen in a million years, I still wouldn't break up with you."_

_"Promise?" The brunette lifts her pinky in between the two and Nicole chuckles momentarily before dropping a hand from the girl's face and interlocking her pinky with the awaiting one. She uses their interlocked fingers to pull the girl closer and capture Waverly’s lips in hers. Nicole moves her lips slowly and Waverly follows suit. The redhead trails her thumb back and forth across the soft skin under it momentarily before pulling away._

_"No one's opinion of you will ever change my opinion of you." Nicole promises, her brown eyes oozing love and adoration._

_"Same, babe." Waverly breathes out and the redhead takes her hand so she can lead them up the driveway._

_"Ready?" Nicole asks as they approach the door._

_"Ready." The brunette nods, her eyes trained on the wooden door before her._

**End of Flashback**

"Promise?" Waverly reaches out her pinky and Nicole doesn't hesitate to wrap hers around it.

"Promise." The redhead smiles before interlacing their fingers. "Ready?"

"Ready." Waverly nods and Nicole leads all the girls, and Xavier, up to her friend’s front door. Before she can knock, the door swings open and a young girl launches herself into Nicole’s arms.

“Auntie Nicole!” The little girl squeals and Nicole’s laughter warms Waverly’s heart.

“Hi, Mini Shapiro. How’ve you been?” The redhead ruffles the young girl’s hair.

“Good, but I’ve missed you guys! Auntie Waverly!” The small girl launches herself at the brunette and Waverly catches her. “My name is Ellie. I know you can’t remember me, but that’s okay. We will make new memories together.” 

Waverly feels herself starting to tear up as she smiles down at the small girl who is still in her arms. “Hi, Ellie. I love your name and I really look forward to making lots of memories with you.”

“Ellie, honey, why don’t you invite them in, yeah?” Eliza appears in the doorway and tickles her daughter until she releases Waverly. 

“Come in, guys!” Ellie announces and everyone just chuckles as they all file into the house. “Everyone’s out back if you all want to head back there!” 

Eliza greets everyone as they enter her house and Wynonna, Xavier, Chrissy, and Rosita follow Ellie out back while Waverly, Nicole, and Eliza remain at the front door.

“Hi, friend.” Eliza wraps Nicole up in a tight hug and they embrace for a few seconds before Eliza pulls back. “I’ve missed you, stranger.”

“I’ve missed you too.” Nicole wipes at the moisture that’s gathering under her eyes.

“And you.” Eliza turns to Waverly. “Come here.” She reaches out her arms and Waverly walks into them. “I’m so happy to see you both together again.”

“So good to meet you… uh _see_ you again.” Waverly corrects herself and Eliza just smiles warmly at her. There is pity laced in her eyes and the brunette wishes that it wasn't directed at her.

“Well the hubby should be almost finished setting everything up, so why don’t we go join everyone in the backyard, yeah?” The mom says and both Nicole and Waverly nod their heads and follow her.

“Nicole Haught." The redhead hears her name being called and she doesn't even have to look to know who the voice belongs to. A small smile plays on her lips when she looks to her right and sees Shae Pressman walking toward her.

"Hi, Shae." The redhead meets her halfway and embraces the girl. The two hug for a little too long, in Waverly's opinion, and the brunette tries to ignore the burning sensation in her stomach. Opting to give Nicole some time alone to catch up with old friends, Waverly makes her way to the table and sits down next to Wynonna. Eliza and Ellie are helping a man, that Waverly doesn’t recognize, set the table. After he hands her a paper plate, he extends his hand to her.

“Ewan Allenbach.” He smiles widely at her and she shakes his hand. 

“I would introduce myself, but I’m assuming we’ve already met.” Waverly offers him a smile and he chuckles.

“We were friends in college. We had a lot of classes together and it was actually you and Nicole who introduced me to Eliza.” He looks over at the woman who is making sure everything is perfect for her guests.

"Well, it's very nice to see you again, Ewan. I look forward to catching up after lunch." The brunette offers the man a bright smile.

“Hi, Waverly.” The musician turns her attention from Ewan to the person who just said her name. Her eyes land on the stranger that she thought was hitting on Nicole in New York. “I’m Kate.”

Waverly vaguely remembers herself drunk rambling about Kate to Nicole and she blushes in embarrassment at the memory. “Nice to see you again, Kate.” Waverly shakes the woman’s hand. “Last time I saw you, I thought you were hitting on Nicole.” She laughs.

The woman just waves her off. “Please, she’s not my type and I’m not hers. She only likes musicians.” Kate sends Waverly a wink and the brunette blushes again. "Your jealously is forgiven."

"Thank you." Waverly chuckles, not bothering to even deny the statement. 

Nicole takes a seat beside Waverly and the brunette watches as the woman that Nicole was hugging earlier takes a seat by Kate across from them. “Waverly, this is Shae.” Nicole introduces the two and Waverly smiles widely and extends her hand across. However, she immediately retracts it when the girl across from her doesn't make a move to shake it. Nicole clenches her jaw and gives her friend a death glare, but Shae just avoids looking at the redhead.

“Well she’s real fun at parties.” Wynonna mumbles to Dolls. Waverly tries to hide a smirk while Rosita just kicks the older Earp under the table.

The rest of the lunch goes by rather smoothly. Everyone eats until they cannot eat anymore and when it seems as if everyone has thrown in their napkins, Shae leans over the table and whispers to Nicole. "Can we talk to you alone?"

Before Nicole can answer, Eliza chimes in. "Ellie, why don't you show the girls and Xavier your new paintings? She’s been taking art classes on the weekends and she’s getting very good.” Eliza gushes and Ellie grabs Waverly’s hand and gestures for the others to follow her. Ewan pulls out his phone and kisses Eliza before mumbling something about a work call. When everyone but Nicole, Eliza, Kate, and Shae are gone, the redhead starts to speak up.

"What are you doing?" Shae asks before Nicole can get a word out.

"Eating?" Nicole chuckles momentarily, the laughter dying fast when she sees the look her friend is giving her.

"No, with Waverly. What are you doing?" Shae crosses her arms.

The redhead just sits there, not knowing what to say or where Shae is going with this.

"She has a boyfriend Nicole, and you are just sticking around and being her side piece." Shae deadpans and Nicole’s eyes widen at her words.

"Shae..." Eliza tries to butt in.

"No, Eliza. I want to know why she is letting this girl string her along. You were successful in Venice and you just threw it all away for her." The dark-haired girl points to the house.

"Shae, that's enough." Kate speaks up, but Shae keeps ranting.

"Her head's fucked up, Nicole. She can't remember you and she never will, so just move on already. You're a catch and you are just throwing your life away to try to win a girl back who is too fucked in the head to leave her abusive boy-"

"Shae, stop!" Eliza slams her hands down on the table and then nods her head in the direction of the house. All four girls turn around and see Wynonna, Rosita, Chrissy, Xavier, and Waverly standing on the back steps of the house.

Waverly, having heard enough of the conversation, turns around and walks back into the house, Rosita and Chrissy on her heels. Wynonna, however, storms over to the table and Xavier follows close behind.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" The angry Earp yells and Nicole stands up from the table and places a hand on Wynonna’s chest to stop her from moving forward.

"I'm being a good friend." Shae stands up. "Because your sister is fucking up Nicole’s life."

Wynonna starts to lunge, but Xavier grabs her hand and interlaces their fingers. “She’s not worth it, Earp.”

"I got this, Wynonna." Nicole assures the brunette. The older Earp just nods and lets Xavier lead her back to the house, both of them making sure to shoot Shae a dirty look before walking away. When they both make it into the house, Nicole turns around to face her friend.

"First of all, Shae, she's not some girl she's my fucking _wife_. Second of all, Waverly told me from the get go that she may never get her memory back and that she wouldn't be mad or blame me if I left." Nicole places her palms on the table and leans forward so she is closer to Shae. "I stay because she's my home and I'd rather have her in my life as just a friend than not at all." The redhead stares angrily at the girl in front of her. "Third of all, if I ever hear you call _my_ girl 'fucked in the head' again, I will not stop Wynonna from beating your ass. Hell, I won't hesitate to either."

"You're making a mistake, Nicole. Choosing her over your closest friends." Shae scoffs and shakes her head in disbelief.

"A close friend would never ask me to choose." Nicole replies immediately. "I would tell you to apologize to Waverly, but I doubt you will. So instead, why don't you just fucking leave." The redhead points to the door attached to Eliza’s backyard fence and Shae storms out.

When she leaves, Nicole turns to Eliza and Kate. "You guys don't feel that way, do you?"

"No!" They both shout in unison and Nicole offers them a sad smile.

"Good. I love you guys." She breathes out. "Now, I'm going to check on my love." The redhead informs them before walking back to the house. As soon as she steps inside, she comes face to face with an angry Rosita and Chrissy.

"Please tell us you kicked her ass." Rosita crosses her arms over her chest.

“No, but I told her to leave." Nicole sighs.

"Good because no one talks about Waverly like that." Chrissy gives Nicole’s shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"Where is she?" Brown eyes search the house.

"Living room." Rosita points in the direction and Nicole nods before making her way into the living room. She sees Wynonna and Dolls sitting with Waverly. The detective seems to be trying to cheer the girl up and Nicole hears her favorite laugh, so she knows it must be working. When she walks in, the couple stands up from the couch.

"We will let you two talk alone." Wynonna places a kiss to the top of her sister’s head before escorting Dolls out of the area. Nicole offers them both a grateful smile as they pass by her. When she sits down on the couch, Waverly speaks up.

"She's right you know." The girl mumbles, her eyes not meeting Nicole's.

Nicole furrows her eyebrows and tries to meet Waverly's eyes, but the brunette stays looking at her hands that are neatly folded in her lap.

"I'm so damaged and I feel like I'm holding you back." Waverly continues when Nicole doesn't say anything.

"No, she's not right, Waves. Nothing she said was right." Nicole informs the brunette, her heart breaking when she sees a tear fall from Waverly’s chin to her shirt. "Hey, look at me." She coaxes and Waverly slowly raises her head and meets the brown-eyed girl's tender gaze. "You are not damaged. You have some internal and external scars, but you aren't damaged."

Waverly nods her head and starts to look back down, but Nicole quickly hooks a finger under the girl's chin and forces her to keep eye contact.

"I love you." Nicole finally speaks the three words that she has been itching to say since she was reunited with Waverly. "Every single part of you and I don't know how much you heard of the conversation, but you are not stringing me along either. I _choose_ to stay. I do." She puts a finger to her own chest. "I will always choose you and I'd rather have you as a friend than not at all."

"I so badly want to tell you that I would understand if you left like I did a couple of months ago, but I don't know if I could tell you that because I don't know if I could be okay if you left." Waverly admits and Nicole’s heart flutters as she processes what her wife just told her. "You've become such a big part of my life, Nic. You've become my best friend and I don't want to lose you, but if staying is only hurting you then I will let you go. If you agree with anything Shae said then I'll let you go."

Nicole immediately shakes her head. "I don't wanna go." She raises her hand from her own lap and places it on top of Waverly’s. "You're my best friend too, Waves. You have been for almost five years now and I could never willingly walk out of your life." Waverly smiles at Nicole’s words and the redhead matches her smile almost immediately. "And I did not agree with a single thing Shae said. Not one thing. That's why I told her to leave."

Waverly’s eyes widen. "You didn't have to do that for me. I know she's your friend."

Nicole traces circles on the back of Waverly’s hand with her thumb. "I didn't just do it for you, I did it for me too. It hurt me to hear her say those things about you. Plus, if I didn't throw her out, Eliza or Kate would've done it." Nicole chuckles lightly. "They love you, by the way. I don't think they ever stopped."

"Really?" Waverly’s eyes brighten.

"Really." The redhead feels a smile crawl to her lips. "I mean face it, Waves, you are pretty lovable. Even when you're jealous."

The hazel-eyed girl laughs and playfully nudges the redhead's shoulder with her own. "Can you blame me? You're a Haught commodity."

Nicole's dimples make an appearance when Waverly doesn't deny her jealously. She's trying to act calm, but she's pretty sure her heart is about to beat out of her goddamn chest. "That so sounded like something your sister would say." Nicole squeezes the tan hand in her own before releasing it and standing up from the coach. "Now, let me go see Ellie’s paintings. If I leave before I see them, the kid will disown me."

Waverly chuckles as she stands up from the sofa. "We wouldn't want that. Lead the way, Haught." She states before following the redhead to the little girl’s room.

As Waverly walks beside the redhead, she feels a hand slip into hers. She looks down and smiles at the slightly pale hand that contrasts beautifully with her more tan one.

All Waverly has ever known are touches that leave bruises in their wake. She never knew that touches also had the ability to take your breath away while simultaneously setting your whole body on fire. Waverly had no idea that a touch could actually heal a person. 

Not until she met Nicole.


	22. Chapter 22

Waverly walks into the art gallery, her eyes immediately scanning the place for a particular art student and a really attractive art teacher. Tonight, Nicole’s students are having an art exhibit to show off their work. Waverly didn't tell the redhead she was coming because she wanted it to be a surprise. She also came because a couple of weeks ago, she reached out to one of Nicole’s art students and asked for a favor. Christmas is quickly approaching, and so Waverly had one of the redhead’s students paint her something for Nicole. Yesterday, the gift was dropped off at her door, so she came here tonight to not only support Nicole, but to slip a hundred dollar bill to the gracious student, even though they told her she didn't need to pay.

After tracking down the student and insisting she take the money, Waverly is now searching the crowded, dimly lit room for a brown-eyed redhead. The brunette smiles when she sees the teacher across the room talking about an art piece with a group of people surrounding her and a glass of champagne in her right hand. Deciding not to interrupt her, Waverly opts to just walk around the room and admire some of the art. She passes by a piece that captures her attention immediately. It is a piece from the perspective of someone in an airplane. The person's hand is placed on the small airplane window and the way that the hand is placed makes Waverly feel like the person wanted to get off the plane for some unknown reason.

"Absolutely stunning." Waverly hears a husky voice say and she immediately turns around.

"Yeah, it's my favorite one in here. There's a story behind it, I can tell." The hazel-eyed girl smiles softly at the art teacher.

"Oh yeah, the painting is okay too I guess." Nicole smirks as she allows her eyes to take in every inch of Waverly, drinking in her soft brunette locks, toned legs, and vibrant hazel eyes.

The brunette feels her face heat up under the gaze of the beautiful art teacher. "So who painted-"

“Mrs. Earp-Haught, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I really wanted my parents to meet you." One of Nicole’s students approaches the two girls. The redhead quickly turns to face her wife.

"Go, it's okay. You can find me when you're finished." Waverly gives the teacher a bright smile.

"I'll be right back, Waves." Nicole winks at the brunette before following her student to the other side of the room. When the teacher is gone, Waverly turns her attention back to the second most beautiful piece of art in the room.

Nicole being the first, of course.

She studies the painting and notices that the plane is still at the airport because outside the window, you can still see the runway, other planes, and the terminal. She squints when she notices a figure to the left of the hand on the window. When the musician leans forward, she sees a redheaded figure in the distance, standing behind a glass window in the airport. The figure seems to be a girl who is mimicking the same pose, her palm placed on the glass window as well.

Waverly’s eyes widen in realization and she immediately scans the canvas for a signature that will tell her who the owner of the painting is, even though she's pretty sure she already knows who it is. When she looks at the bottom right corner of the piece, she sees the initials NH subtly painted there. Waverly's heart speeds up and her mouth goes dry.

"Nicole painted this. I'm the girl on the plane. That's my hand on the glass. This is our story." Waverly whispers to herself. She studies the painting for a few more minutes before deciding to retreat to the front of the room and pay a visit to the open bar. "Jack and Coke, please." She tells the bartender as she leans her elbows on the rough wooden surface of the bar.

"Just can't stay away, huh?" The brunette hears a familiar voice and she rolls her eyes before looking over at Nicole’s too forward male colleague.

"Hi." Waverly offers him a tight lipped smile.

"Hi yourself, beautiful." Tucker winks. Luckily, the bartender comes and brings Waverly her drink not seconds later. She immediately picks it up and downs half of it in one sip.

"Thirsty?" Tucker raises an eyebrow before moving closer to the musician and leaning over so his lips are hovering near the brunette’s ear. "I can quench your thirst better than that drink can, I promise you that."

Waverly's whole body tenses and her top lip curls up in slight disgust. Before she can reply, she feels an arm snake around her waist and pull her away from the man. Her body collides with the person's side and she feels lips hover over her ear once again.

"Hi, pretty girl." A familiar voice whispers. This time, Waverly’s body shivers when warm breath hits her ear and her lips form a smile when she gets a whiff of vanilla.

"Hi, Nic." The brunette turns her head to the side and her breath catches in her throat when she sees how close their faces are. Waverly unconsciously licks her lips as her eyes shift from pools of sweet honey to plump pink lips.

Tucker clears his throat. "Wow, didn't know you two were-"

“Yeah, well, there's a lot you don't know." Nicole retorts as she flickers her eyes over to meet Tucker’s.

"I'll just..." The man points to a random spot in the room and scurries away. When he’s gone, the brunette just chuckles, effectively getting Nicole’s attention again.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous, Haught." Waverly quirks an eyebrow as she moves to stand directly in front of the redhead.

Nicole takes a step closer to the brunette, a smile overtaking her features. "So what if I am jealous, Waves?"

"Well I've never really liked jealousy on anyone else, but you wear it well. Kinda like this pantsuit you've got on." Waverly’s eyes scan up and down the brown-eyed girl's body, a playful smirk on her face and fire in her eyes. Nicole just stands frozen, too stunned to move. The brunette shakes her head at the flustered teacher, an amused smile on her lips. Waverly pulls the redhead forward by her jacket and plants a kiss to one of her reddening cheeks. "C'mon, Picasso, how about you explain some of this art to me, yeah?"

Still not able to form words, the art teacher just nods and allows Waverly to take her hand and lead her away from the bar area. The rest of the night consists of Nicole explaining every piece of art in the room to the hazel-eyed girl.

Waverly, however, just watches in awe, silently wishing someone could explain to her why in the midst of all this art, and surrounded by a room full of color, she only wants to get lost in the color brown.


	23. Chapter 23

Waverly spends most of her morning on the phone with Atlantic Records discussing some changes they needed to make to her songs and what artists will be singing them. After playing them some new songs and promising to email the lyrics and a recording to them, she ends the call. When she walks back into the living room, she continues the task she was working on before she got the call: wrapping Christmas presents. When she finishes wrapping Nicole’s present, she inspects her wrapping job before turning to her best friend.

"You promise my gift isn't stupid, Rosi?" Waverly chews on her bottom lip nervously as she stares at the gift in her hands.

"I promise, Wave. Now stop worrying." Rosita pats her friend’s knee. "You could get the girl a garbage bag full of trash and she'd probably treasure it forever. Now I know that you said you wanted to give it to her in private, so you better go ahead and go over there before the other girls arrive." The brunette pulls her best friend to her feet and gestures toward the door.

“Don't be nervous, don't be nervous.” Waverly whispers to herself as she tries to no avail to slow her heart rate. 

When she finally musters up some courage, she knocks two times on the door that sits in front of her own. Seconds later, it swings open and hazel eyes meet bright brown ones.

_So much for the fucking heart calming exercises,_ Waverly thinks as her heart starts beating erratically in her chest once again.

"Hey, Waves." Nicole smiles as she runs a hand through her half-curled hair. "I'm sorry if I'm late, I haven't even looked at a clock-"

"No, you aren't late. You still have about 20 minutes until Wynonna and Chrissy arrive." Waverly reassures the redhead as she nervously rocks back and forth on her heels. "I just uh wanted to come give you your present early because I wanted it to be more intimate when we exchanged gifts.” As soon as the words leave her mouth, the brunette internally chastises herself for her word choice.

Nicole just stands in the doorway, a fond smile making its way to her lips as she watches Waverly’s face flush. Nicole thinks her wife’s bashful side is the cutest thing she’s ever seen.

"I'd actually love to exchange gifts now." Nicole chimes in and puts the brunette out of her misery. "Let me just finish my hair real quick." She points to her head before retreating to the bathroom. "Make yourself at home!"

Waverly nods and enters the apartment. She lays the present down so she can pet the dog who is currently napping on the sofa. She only pries her eyes away from the sleeping canine when she hears the bathroom door open again. Nicole walks out seconds later, her red locks curled to perfection. Waverly watches as she grabs a small, wrapped box from the kitchen counter before making her way over to where the brunette is sitting. The brown-eyed girl wakes the sleeping puppy and coaxes him to lay on the armchair and when he does, she plops down on the sofa next to Waverly.

"Hi." Nicole breathes out as she stares into vibrant hazel eyes.

"Hi." Waverly responds, an amused smile tugging at her lips. "Is that for me?" She wiggles her eyebrows as she stares at the small gift in Nicole’s hands.

"No, for Wynonna actually." Nicole deadpans. "I kind of forgot to get you something."

"Well I'm sure Nonna will love it." Waverly nods, trying to hide her smile.

Nicole turns the box over in her hands before speaking up again. "Well would you look at that. Seems I made a mistake. This little thing _actually_ is for you." The art teacher beams and Waverly melts at the sight. "See, it has your name on it." The redhead points to the gift tag that has 'Waves' scribbled on it. Nicole places the box in Waverly’s lap and the brunette’s eyes brighten. She immediately starts unwrapping the gift, and once all the paper is removed, she holds the light blue box in her hands. She knows the only jewelry that comes in these little blue boxes is jewelry from Tiffany & Co and everything made by them is pricey. Her eyes find brown ones and she stares at Nicole quizzically. The redhead just nods, silently encouraging her to go on and open it.

Waverly carefully opens the box and sucks in a quick breath when her eyes land on a gold necklace. The pendant is a gold key with diamond accents.

"Because you hold the key to my heart, Waves." Nicole whispers and Waverly shoots her head up again to meet brown eyes. "Oh god, that sounded so much more romantic in my head."

Waverly feels tears well up in her eyes as she stares at the incredibly thoughtful gift. She rubs her fingers delicately over the small key. "It's beautiful, Nic. I love it." The brunette immediately wipes away a stray tear that has fallen to her cheek.

"It's not much..." Nicole starts and Waverly just shakes her head.

"You're wrong." The musician moves her left hand to rest on top of both of the redhead’s that are currently folded in her lap. "It's _everything_." She admits and Nicole looks down so she can hide the blush that is quickly rising to her cheeks. Waverly leans in and places a kiss to one of her reddened cheeks. When she pulls back, she immediately studies the beautiful necklace again. "Now I'm embarrassed to give you my gift."

Nicole shakes her head fervently. "Don't be, I'll love it."

Waverly just nods and grabs the large present and sets it on Nicole’s lap. The brown-eyed girl immediately starts tearing off the paper that's covering the gift and when she gets it all off, her eyes light up as she holds the canvas in her hands. Her smile widens when her eyes scan the canvas. It's a painting of Waverly, Nicole, and Clarke. Rosita gave Waverly the picture after she confessed that she took it the night they found Clarke on the beach. The brunette is holding the puppy in her arms and Nicole is sitting beside her, petting the little guy and looking fondly at Waverly.

"How-" Nicole opens her mouth and then closes it back.

"I stalked one of your students and they agreed to paint it for me." Waverly admits and Nicole just chuckles.

"It's perfect, Waves. I love it so much." Nicole’s eyes scan the painting, taking in every little detail of it and feeling proud that one of her students painted such a beautiful piece.

"Well that's not all." Waverly smirks while pulling out an envelope from her jacket pocket.

"Waverly..." Nicole groans. "This is more than enough."

"I mean, I can resale the concert tickets if you don't-"

"Now let’s not be irrational." Nicole takes the envelope that Waverly is holding out to her and the hazel-eyed girl just smirks.

"Thought so." Waverly winks and Nicole just shoots her a playful glare as she tears open the envelope. When two concert tickets fall in her lap, she picks them up. Her eyes read the name on the tickets and they widen.

"Fleurie? Oh my god!” Nicole looks up and Waverly nods, a huge smile on her face.

“You were singing her that day when you were walking out of your apartment and I was headed to work. She announced her tour the other day and I saw she was coming to Toronto, so I snagged two tickets.” The brunette offers her a soft smile.

The redhead sets the tickets aside and launches herself at her wife.

"I hope this means you love the presents." Waverly bites her lip as she wraps her arms around the redhead.

"Of course I do!" Nicole pulls back from the hug and reaches down to pick up the tickets that she set aside a second ago.

"Since there are two, does that mean I get a plus one?" The art teacher asks.

"Well a concert wouldn't be fun to go to alone now would it?" The brunette raises an eyebrow and Nicole shakes her head. 

Before she can speak up and ask Waverly to be her plus one, someone starts banging on the door.

"Ladies! It's time to eat!" They hear Rosita yell and both girls roll their eyes fondly. Nicole retreats to her room to grab her gifts for the other girls before following Waverly into her and Rosita’s apartment.

After they all eat and exchange gifts, Chrissy, Wynonna, and Waverly settle on the couch to watch Christmas movies. Rosita, however, grabs Nicole and jerks her into the kitchen.

"Rosita what the-" Nicole starts, but shuts her mouth when a long circular tube is placed in her hands. She looks at it momentarily before looking up at the brunette. "I thought you said my gift was on back order?"

"After you open it, you'll see why I said that." Rosita gestures toward the package and Nicole gives in and opens it. She pulls the cap off the end of it and reaches down into the tube to retrieve the rolled up poster. She unrolls it and holds it out in front of her. A huge grin immediately makes its way across her face.

"Well well, you kept your promise." She glances up at Rosita.

"I always do." The brunette smirks. "Told you I'd blow it up into a poster for you. I did decide to add a couple of more pictures to it though."

Nicole smiles as she studies the poster. It's a collage of pictures of her and Waverly. She sees the one of the two of them cuddled up on the air-mattress the night of the sleepover and the one of her kissing Waverly’s head while she was asleep on her shoulder on the plane to New York.

"I know, I know. I should be a professional photographer." Rosita tosses her hair over her shoulder and Nicole finds herself nodding in agreement. She must admit that these pictures are quite adorable.

“Alright, roll that sucker back up and let’s go back in there with our girls so I can dangle mistletoe over yours and Waverly’s head.” Rosita gestures toward the living room.

Nicole just laughs it off, but there's a part of her that hopes that Rosita does hold mistletoe over their heads because even though she's gotten some amazing presents today, a kiss from Waverly is all that she really wants for Christmas this year.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;)

Waverly downs another glass of champagne as she watches Nicole talk with some friends.

The brunette looks the redhead up and down. She can’t get over how good she looks tonight. She starts at the girl's nude heels and then admires how great her ivory skin looks in contrast to the dark green jumpsuit she is wearing. Waverly's mouth gets dry when she notices just how low the neckline of the jumpsuit plunges. Nicole's red locks are pulled back in a messy ponytail, with little strands of hair framing her face. Finally, the brunette’s eyes settle on her pink stained lips and Waverly finds herself smiling as she watches Nicole laugh at something Eliza says. When she realizes she's been staring for far too long, she immediately tears her eyes away from Nicole and grabs another glass of champagne from the alcohol table. With another glass in hand, she walks over to the couch and takes a seat. 

It's New Year's Eve and Wynonna and Dolls decided to throw a party at his place. The older Earp told everyone to invite whoever they wanted, so each girl invited a few of their friends to attend. 

"I see you over here eye fucking your redhead." Rosita takes a seat next to her best friend on the couch. She grabs the glass of champagne from Waverly's hand and takes a swig of it. "She's yours, she always has been. You just gotta claim her."

"My heart almost beats out of my goddamn chest any time she's near and the butterflies... don't _even_ get me started on how they literally invade my stomach when Nicole is within ten feet of me." Waverly sighs as she runs a hand through her messy curls.

"Sounds like you've made your choice." Rosita informs the confused brunette.

"I'm scared of how she makes me feel. She looks at me like I'm her everything and I'm terrified that she will get into a relationship with me, _this_ me, and realize that I'm nothing special. I'm terrified that I'll let her down because I'm not the same girl she fell in love with.” Waverly confesses.

"You are the same girl, Wave." Rosita places her arm around the brunette’s shoulders. "You are just a little more guarded, that's all."

"Thanks for the support, Rosi." Waverly leans her head on her best friend’s shoulder. "I couldn't live without you."

"Damn right you couldn't." Rosita kisses her on the head and Waverly just rolls her eyes fondly.

"Wave, if you're lonely, we can just make this New Year's Eve kiss a three way." Chrissy suggests as she approaches the two girls.

Waverly just lifts her head from Rosita’s shoulder and scrunches up her nose in disgust. "I love you two, but no thanks."

“You sure, Wave? I'm a really good kisser." Rosita wiggles her eyebrows. "Right, baby?" The brunette turns to look at her fiancé.

"Fuck yeah you are." Chrissy winks at her.

"Okay, I'm gonna leave you two alone now since midnight is in five minutes and I really don't wanna be around when you two devour each other." Waverly stands up and walks back to the alcohol table since Rosita stole her glass. Wynonna and Dolls are filling up glasses with champagne and the musician walks over and grabs another one. 

“So, Big Red looks pretty _Haught_ tonight huh?” Wynonna smiles mischievously at her sister and Waverly just blushes.

“She always does.” The brunette replies and her sister and Dolls just smile at her knowingly. 

“So we’ll be seeing you two together at midnight, yeah?” Dolls smirks at the youngest Earp and Waverly takes a sip of her drink when she feels her cheeks starting to heat up. 

“Can’t wait to see the fireworks, baby girl.” Wynonna chimes in and Waverly tilts her head in confusion. 

“You ordered fireworks, Nonna? Should we go outside at midnight then?” The brunette points to the door. Wynonna and Dolls share a look before they both burst out laughing.

“No, Waverly. The fireworks that will go off when you two finally…” Dolls puckers his lips and Wynonna leans in and kisses them. Waverly downs her drink before grabbing another from the table.

“I’ll see you two after midnight.” Waverly chuckles nervously before making her way to the nearest bathroom. She sets the glass down on the side of the sink and checks herself in the mirror. She runs her fingers through her hair a few times and smiles when her eyes fall to her chest area and she sees the key pendant that Nicole gifted her hanging from her neck. She brings her right hand up and rubs her thumb across it momentarily before dropping her hand and glancing at her reflection one last time.

When Waverly hears everyone start to countdown from 60 seconds, her hands start to shake.

“It's now or never, Waverly. This is what you want. This is what you've always wanted, even if you forgot temporarily.” The brunette whispers to herself.

_"30!"_ She hears everyone chant and her whole body starts to tremble. Once she does this, she can't undo it and that terrifies her.

_"20!"_ The party-goers chant and she quickly takes a swig of her champagne before setting it back down on the sink. She takes a deep breath and then opens the bathroom door. As soon as she walks back into the living room area, her eyes scan the crowd of people.

_"10!"_ The crowd chants just as her eyes lock with soft brown ones across the room. Nicole offers her a small wave as she makes her way over to the musician.

_"5!"_ Waverly takes another step, effectively closing the large gap between the two of them.

_"4!"_ Nicole squeezes through everyone to get to her wife.

_"3!"_

"I was looking everywhere for you." Nicole says once Waverly is within earshot.

_"2!"_

Waverly just nods as she quickly closes the gap between the two of them. 

"Happy New Year!" Everyone shouts just as Waverly’s right hand finds the back of Nicole’s neck. The brunette immediately tugs the redhead down and captures her lips in her own. When their lips touch, the whole world around them fades away. Neither girl can hear a thing over the loud thumping in their chests.

Nicole is baffled to say the least and she wants to kiss back, but Waverly tastes like champagne and Nicole knows that the brunette has a habit of only kissing her when she's drunk. It takes every ounce of strength in her, but she places her hands on Waverly’s shoulders and gently pushes her back. Brown eyes are instantly met with a darker shade of hazel and fuck has Nicole missed that sight.

"Waves, how much have you had to drink?" The redhead wants to be sure she wouldn't be taking advantage of the girl.

"Nicole, I'm not drunk. I've had like two glasses of champagne." The brunette admits and Nicole can see it in her eyes that she's telling the truth. The redhead’s eyes go wide and she just stands there trying to process what Waverly just said. Nicole’s mind is reeling because her wife just _kissed her_ and she isn't intoxicated.

"I'm sorry I caught you off guard. I probably shouldn't have just sprung that on you. I'm gonna just go." Waverly points her thumb behind her, her pride a little hurt after Nicole abruptly ended their kiss. Waverly tries to search Nicole’s eyes for any sign that she felt something in the kiss, but the redhead just seems to be completely zoned out. Waverly internally chastises herself for not asking Nicole before kissing her. The musician spins on her heels and starts walking in the opposite direction. As soon as she goes to take a second step, she feels a warm hand slide into her own and the next thing she knows, she’s being spun around to face Nicole again.

The redhead smiles lovingly at the brunette before stepping forward slowly and bringing her trembling hands up to settle on Waverly’s tan cheeks. Nicole leans in slowly and brushes her nose up and down the bridge of the brunette’s nose before ghosting her lips over the musician's. When Waverly feels Nicole’s warm breath hit her lips, she can't stop herself from closing the gap between the two of them again and attaching her lips to soft pink ones.

Waverly prays that Nicole won’t pull away this time as she slowly starts to move her lips against the redhead's. All her doubts fade away when she feels Nicole’s lips move gently against her own. After a few soft kisses, Nicole pulls away slowly and leans her forehead against Waverly’s. All the brunette smells is vanilla and the warm puffs of air that are hitting her lips send chills all over her body. Both girls are panting, their smiles reaching to their eyes.

"Hi." Waverly whispers and Nicole smiles impossibly bigger, her dimples on full display.

"Hi, baby." The redhead responds as she delicately runs her thumb over Waverly’s bottom lip. When the redhead feels Waverly's tongue touch her thumb, she shifts her gaze from hazel eyes to pink lips. The redhead sticks her own tongue out to wet her lips before sliding her hand to the back of Waverly’s neck and bringing their lips together again in a searing kiss. These kisses are more urgent than the ones they just shared. As Nicole's lips move desperately against her wife's, butterflies erupt in her stomach and she warmly greets them, having not properly felt the little creatures for almost a year. The redhead feels a tear slip out of the corner of her right eye and she momentarily smiles into the kiss, causing Waverly to do the same. Nicole drops her hands from the brunette’s face and places them on the girl's hips so she can bring their bodies closer together. The musician folds her arms around Nicole’s neck, her fingers playing with the baby hairs at the nape of the redhead's neck. Waverly swipes her tongue across the redhead's bottom lip and Nicole starts to open her mouth wider to allow Waverly's tongue access, but a loud popping noise stops her movements. Startled, both girls pull away from the kiss and look up to see confetti falling down around them.

“It’s about damn time!” Wynonna whistles as she tosses aside the confetti canon she was holding. 

"Oh hell yeah, that was hot! Or I guess I should say that was _way haught_." Rosita smirks and everyone in the room laughs. 

“Way to go, Earp!” Dolls claps and all of their friends join in. Waverly places her hands over her face and bashfully leans her head and hands against Nicole’s chest. The redhead just chuckles and rests one hand on the small of Waverly's back and playfully flips everyone off with her other.

“Wanna go somewhere quieter, baby?” Nicole whispers into the brunette’s ear. When Waverly just nods against her chest, the redhead gently takes one of her hands away from her face and leads her to the guest room where everyone put their belongings at the beginning of the party. Waverly absentmindedly rubs her thumb over the back of Nicole’s hand as the redhead leads them away from the wonderful chaos that is the New Year's Eve party. The brunette smiles when Nicole gives her hand three reassuring squeezes. 

Waverly would follow Nicole anywhere.


End file.
